A MAN has been charged with the murder of a woman and a five-year-old boy after this morning's deadly housefire.
Richard George Sands is accused of two counts of murder, alleged to have deliberately sparked the Bylong Road fire in Tamworth on Thursday morning that claimed two lives.
The Leader can reveal the 60-year-old was discharged from Tamworth hospital late on Thursday and taken back to Tamworth Police Station, where he was formally charged with murder.
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He's been refused bail and will spend the night in custody in police cells. He will front Tamworth Local Court on Friday morning.
Sands lived at the home and is the prime suspect in the suspicious fire. He handed himself in to Tamworth police shortly after the blaze erupted and spent much of today being questioned by detectives.
Strike Force Glendare - which is made up of detectives from Oxley, New England and the state's arson squad - is leading the probe into the deadly housefire.
The deadly blaze in Bylong Road claimed the life of the woman in the front bedroom as well as a five-year-old boy in a back room - an extremely traumatic scene for fire crews and police who tried to save them.
A seven-year-old boy is recovering in Tamworth hospital from minor injuries and smoke inhalation, after he miraculously managed to make it out of the home, which was engulfed in flames just before dawn.
His mother - a 27-year-old Tamworth woman - suffered "severe and significant burns" to much of her body and has been flown to a specialist burns unit at a Sydney hospital.
Her condition continued to deteriorate throughout the day and she was listed in a critical condition tonight.
Detectives have not ruled out further charges and say investigations are continuing.
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