Fire boys 'trapped by slammed door'

2:54pm Monday 6th October 2008

Two young brothers killed in a house fire were left trapped when their mother ran for help and the front door slammed behind her, a witness said.

Denise Goldsmith wept as she visited the scene on Sunday to lay flowers and had to be restrained by her family from entering the house where her sons - seven-year-old Lewis and five-year-old Taylor Jenkins - died on Saturday.

"She had come outside when the fire started to get help, but the front door had slammed behind her and she couldn't get back in," Jason Maynard, 35, told the Daily Mail.

Mr Maynard, who was laying a kitchen floor at his mother's house nearby, said Ms Goldsmith was screaming for someone to get the children out of the house.

"The front door is one of those you can only open from the inside, unless you have a key. The kids wouldn't have been able to reach the latch to let themselves out. They were just trapped," he added.

Mr Maynard said a neighbour tried to break down the front door while he and his brother Gary, 37, tried in vain to get through the back door.

The youngsters were found by firefighters as they tackled the blaze at the house in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

The house in Milfoil Drive remains cordoned off and dozens of flowers and tributes have been left. Neighbours said the children's death had left the community in shock.

Ms Goldsmith was taken to the Eastbourne District General Hospital following the fire but was released after being treated for minor injuries.

Eastbourne police commander Chief Inspector Dick Coates said the investigation was likely to last several days but the fire was not being treated as suspicious.

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