No criminal charges after fatal fire

No one will face criminal charges following a house fire which claimed the life of a young mother and her nephew in Cork last Easter.

Cork City Coroner’s Court was told yesterday that the Director of Public Prosecutions had considered the Garda file into the deaths of Helena O’Dwyer, 25, and her five-year-old nephew, Ryan O’Dwyer-Hayes, who died in the blaze in Helena’s parents’ home in Mahon last April.

Inspector Declan O’Sullivan told city coroner Dr Myra Cullinane the DPP had directed there would be no prosecution in relation to the matter. The decision clears the way for a full hearing of an inquest into the tragic deaths.

Dr Cullinane told Ryan’s parents that she will hear both inquests together, and in full, on May 3.

Helena and Ryan were among six people staying in her parents’ home on Nutley Avenue when fire ripped through the house in the early hours of Easter Sunday. Neighbours rushed to help and four people managed to escape the inferno.

But Helena and Ryan, who were sleeping in upstairs bedrooms, died in the blaze.

Arson was suspected and, within days, a man in his 20s was arrested for questioning in connection with the incident. He was subsequently released without charge, but had to flee the Mahon area amid concerns for his safety.

Forensic tests subsequently revealed that a petrol bomb did not cause the fatal blaze.

Gardaí had to step up patrols in the area in the days and weeks after the blaze as tensions between certain families ran high.