Christopher Knight

Christopher Knight, Charlie Knight and Ronnie Springer died following a fire at the Prince of Wales pub in Stoke Newington on 27 July 2003.

Christopher Knight and Charlie Knight died from the results of the fire.

Ronnie Springer died after falling from a window trying to save them and three other children. He had also suffered 50% burns.

He did manage to save an 8-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. An 11-year-old girl also managed to escape by herself.

It was thought that the fire had been started deliberately at the foot of the stairs by cleaning cloths being set alight, and to have then spread up the stairs.

Ronnie Springer had been downstairs in the bar area during a lock-in when the fire started at about 5am. He then rushed upstairs and saved the two children before being burned and being forced out of a window, suffering further injuries in the fall. It was heard that he had been one of a number of people in the lock-in and that when they had noticed the fire that it was already by then too hot to go upstairs, it being said that when they opened the door to the stairs that they were met by a wall of flame. However, Ronnie Springer managed to run through the flames to the bedrooms upstairs and to lower the two children out. He was then heard to exclaim:

He was then said to have literally fallen out of the window and landed on a bench.

He died from his injuries in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital six weeks later on Thursday 4 September 2003.

Ronnie Springer had been a regular customer at the pub.

In 2005 Christopher Knight and Charlie Knight's mother was cleared of manslaughter at the Old Bailey.

It was claimed that she had started the fire after a row with her husband during a lock-in, however, she denied it.

The court heard that her husband had been a convicted drug dealer and that there were rumours that he had owed £25,000 to a prominent crime family and it was suggested that the fire had been started by the crime family as a way of leaning on her husband. It was also suggested that her husband had a number of enemies in the criminal underworld that could have been responsible.

The Prince of Wales pub was demolished following the fire.

Ronnie Springer had been from Hackney.

When the evidence at the court was heard, the prosecution said of Ronnie Springer:

Whilst in hospital he underwent a number of operations, before dying from his injuries six weeks later.

The judge said that he gave his wholehearted seal of approval after being told that Ronnie Springer was being recommended for a posthumous award for bravery.