Florence Pennell

Cyril Fensome, Florence Pennell and Stacey Darlington died when the house they were in was set on fire.

Petrol had been poured in through the letterbox and set alight on the night of 1 November 1987 around midnight.

They had lived in a three-story home in South Holme Court on the Thorplands housing estate in Northampton along with two of Florence Pennell's grown sons. Stacey Darlington had been living there with her grandmother, Florence Pennell.

Florence Pennell had been known as Penny and was described as having been popular. Florence Pennell had become engaged to Cyril Fensome two years earlier.

A few hours before the arson attack a brick was thrown through the window of a house about 150 yards away from Cyril Fensome's home. The home, in Booth Meadow Court, which was an identical three story property to the one in South Holme Court except that it was a cream colour and not white, had been the home of a Bangladeshi family and it was thought a possibility that the arsonist had targeted the house in South Holme Court accidentally, thinking it was the other house, although they didn't think that that was a priority line of enquiry.

Florence Pennell's son had been out to the Rubicon Casino on the night of 1 November 1987  where he had been a regular, on the other side of Northampton where he had won over £400. On his way home he stopped off for a curry takeaway in Wellingborough Road and got back home just after midnight but waited outside for a few minutes whilst he listened to the midnight news and then went in and watched a war film on BBC2 called Castle Keep whilst he ate his food in his room on the first floor.

By that time the other people in the house had been asleep.

It was said that the petrol had been squirted through the letterbox about that time.

At about 12.20am, a woman that had lived nearby had returned home and had bumped her car and had got out to look at the damage when she saw a man in a red jacket come round a corner from the direction of South Holme Court and get into a red Renault Fuego car with slats on the rear window and drive off towards Lumbertubs Way dual carriageway. However, it was later determined that he had not been involved with the fire, but he was still however, unidentified and an appeal was made for him to come forward.

He was described as having been about 6ft tall and in his early 30s.

It was noted that the slats on his car would have been black when the car was new and that they had since been painted red.

However, it was noted that he later called in to the CrimeWatch programme after seeing it, stating that he didn't want his family to know, what he had been doing on the estate, but that he had not given his details.

Just as the film ended at 12.30am on BBC2, Florence Pennell's son said that he smelt burning and went to see and saw the hallway on fire. He first tried to call 999 but the wires had melted. He then tried to warn the other people in the house but was forced back by the smoke and so he wrapped something around him and ran out of a door and called for help.

Florence Pennell then jumped from the second floor window and died soon after from internal injuries.

The fire brigade arrived soon after. When they went into Stacey Darlington's room they first thought she had been asleep but she had inhaled fumes from burning furniture and died four days later.

Cyril Fensome was taken to hospital but died by the time he arrived.

Florence Pennell's other son returned home shortly after.

Whilst the fire brigade were putting out the fire, one of Florence Pennell's sons was heard to shout:

Cyril Fensome's son later said:

During the investigation the police said that the arson attack might have been carrie out in revenge against the family. A detective said:

It was noted that Florence Pennell's two sons used to carry our car repairs at the back of the house. It was stated that there had been a lot of ill-feeling over it as people had been complaining that there weren't any parking spaces to park their cars.

One police officer confirmed that there had been aggravation with the family and other people living in the area over the matter.

It was also reported that a gang of teenagers aged between 13 and 18 had been seen on the Sunday night in the area carrying home-made petrol bombs made up of milk bottles with newspaper sticking out of the necks.

A woman that had been walking through Nicholls Court on the Sunday night at about 10pm said that she saw two milk bottle petrol bombs.

Shortly after the arson an anonymous caller called to confess to the murders, but never called back.

During the investigation the police searched through bin bags in the Thorplands area whilst dustmen made their weekly pick-up, in the hope that they would fine the squeezy type of bottle that had been used to squirt the petrol or paraffin through the letterbox.

The Thorplands housing estate was described as having been plagued by gang crime with one Asian family saying that burning paper had been pushed through their letterbox before and windows had been smashed every week for 2½ years. A man said that his pregnant wife was frightened to be left alone during the evening and that his 9-year-old daughter had been threatened by racists at school. The man said:

Another woman that lived on the estate said that there had always been gangs on the estate, saying:

Another woman that moved to Nicholls Court from South Africa, said:

A woman that had left the estate said:

She added that the gangs numbered up to 30 or 40 people sometimes ranging in age from 13 to their early 20's. She added:

Cyril Fensome and Florence Pennell were buried side by side at Brixworth Parish Church on Thursday 3 December 1987 whilst Stacey Darlington was buried the day before at Little Billing Church.