Claire Throssell’s world was destroyed in just 15 minutes when her ex-husband torched his house, killing himself and their two children.
Authorities knew Darren Sykes, 44, was abusive and Claire, 47, told a family court he would kill the boys if left alone with them.
But a judge granted unsupervised access and Sykes lured Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, to his attic with the promise of a new train set.
In fact, he had five cans of petrol, set the house on fire and shattered Claire’s life for ever. She had suffered years of emotional abuse from Sykes before they split.
Backing our campaign for a law change, Claire said: “They go on about parental rights, but what about the rights of the child? There are no laws to protect them.
“They are safer at school than they are in the home. It’s so wrong.”
Brave Jack desperately tried to save his brother as flames engulfed the three-bed house in Penistone, South Yorks, in October 2014.
But neither stood a chance. Paul died in Claire’s arms at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
Jack died five days later. His last words to the firefighters who pulled him from the house were: “My dad did this and he did it deliberately.”
A report revealed officials failed to act on warning signs.
Sykes was cautioned for attacking a neighbour and the children had told professionals they were scared of him.
The review rev-ealed Claire alerted authorities Sykes had told her he “understood why fathers kill children”.
Two days before the fire, “agitated and unreasonable” Sykes barricaded an official from the Children’s and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service in her office.
Yet he was still allowed to have the boys. CAFCASS were due to interview the boys on how they felt about contact with their father.
Claire said: “The day Jack was supposed to have his interview was the day he fell asleep in my arms eternally. It was heartbreaking to have my sons hold on to me in tears, begging not to see their dad.
“Professionals need to be held accountable. Unsafe contact is continually allowed – but the judge in my case is still sitting on the bench.”
