Former Winchester family killed by arsonist (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Former Winchester family killed by arsonist

12:36pm Tuesday 16th October 2012 in Winchester By Sian davies

FORENSIC officers were today at the scene of a suspected arson attack that claimed the lives of four children and the wife of a former Hampshire doctor.

Abdul Shakoor moved his family from Winchester, where he worked at the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester, to Harlow in Essex around a year ago.

His wife Sabah Usmani, who was also a doctor, sons Sohaib, 11, and Rayan, six, and 12-year-old daughter Hira died in their end-of-terrace house in Barn Mead in the early hours of yesterday.

Dr Shakoor suffered minor injuries as he fought to rescue his family from the blaze.

A third son, Muneeb, nine, and daughter Maheen, three, were rescued by fire crews and taken to hospital in a critical condition but Muneeb died later at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow.

Maheen remains in a critical but stable condition at a specialist burns unit at the Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

It is understood Dr Shakoor has been transferred to the Broomfield to be closer to his daughter. He is said to be traumatised.

Dr Shakoor lived in staff accommodation on Romsey Road. It is thought his family lived there too. The photograph was taken in 2011 in Abbey Gardens, the park in central Winchester.

Essex Police are treating the blaze as suspected arson and there is evidence that some form of accelerant was used.

A spokesman for the force said: ''The cause of the fire is still under investigation and detectives cannot rule in or rule out all lines of inquiry and cannot speculate on the motive or cause.''

Dr Shakoor worked at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Dr Usmani did not work as she cared for the children.

Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, they lived in Saudi Arabia, where the children were born, for more than a decade before moving to the UK.