Baby death fire horror.
Byline: By PAUL WATSONA BADLY-burned mother stumbled from a house fire in which her fourmonth-old son was killed,saying two men had attacked her and bound her wrists, witnesses said yesterday.
Danielle Wails, 21, dialled 999 with her tongue, after screaming for help through her letterbox as the fire took hold, neighbours said.
Northumbria Police have launched a murder inquiry after her baby Alexander Lee Gallon died in hospital following his rescue from the burning building by firefighters.
Two brave girls who ran to help as the house in Cowgate, Newcastle, was alight last night told how they heard Ms Wails shouting through the letterbox.
Leanne Horspool, 15, said: "She was saying that two men had got in and had attacked her and set fire to the house.
"I was telling her to calm down and get away from the door and we would try and find someone to kick it in.
"I stopped a car and a man tried to help and then the fire brigade arrived and they kicked the door in.
"She stumbled out of the front door and was just all black and looked like she was covered in soot.
"She told me she had managed to dial 999 with her tongue.
"She was shouting 'my baby, my baby is in there'." Leanne's friend, Chantelle Stoker, 12, said: "A wire was hanging down from one wrist and looked like it had been pulled tight with a knot in"She was saying that two men had got in, hit her and tied her up then set the house alight.
"The firemen helped her out of the door and she just fell to the ground.
"Whoever has done this deserves to be shot." The incident happened in a row of houses and the one the fire started in is owned by a Catholic charity which provides housing for single parents and pregnant women Neighbours said the Ms Wails had only lived there for five or six weeks and nothing was known about her family.
Police said they could not comment about the incident, but said a news conference was planned for today.
Ms Wails was last night being treated in the intensive care unit at Newcastle General Hospital
CAPTION(S):
Chantelle Stoker, 12, (left) and friend Leanne Horspool, 15, the eye witnesses who tried to help the mother of the baby killed in a house fire
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| Publication: | Daily Post (Liverpool, England) |
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| Date: | Aug 30, 2005 |
| Words: | 399 |
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