The son of a man killed alongside his wife and two children in a house fire in Waterford has claimed his family were murdered because of someone else’s 20,000 euro drug debt.

Hundreds of people attended a vigil on Wednesday evening in the Birchwood area, where the local parish priest called on those responsible to ‘to stand up, admit what you did and face the legal consequences’.

Multiple properties have been searched, and some electronic devices and vehicles seized as part of an ‘intense’ Garda investigation into the arson attack that led to the deaths of Philip and Kim English and their sons Callum, 12, and Jayden, nine.

Two other children were critically injured in the blaze in the Irish city.

Mr English’s son, John James English, said the family had been targeted for some time but were not involved in drugs and were ‘innocent’.

He told RTÉ News: ‘It’s a family, you know. Twenty grand worth of a debt; is that worth nearly five lives?’

At a prayer vigil at Sacred Heart Church on Wednesday evening, Father Gerry Chestnutt called on the local community to ‘wrap each other in love’.

‘An innocent family preparing for a new day should have done what they did every day: parents preparing their children for school,’ he said.

An uncle of Philip English has called on anyone with information to come forward.

James English, who said he is also the godfather of one of the children who died, said: ‘Whoever did it, he better feel ashamed of himself.’

He called on any witnesses to go to the Gardaí with whatever information they have, adding: ‘At the end of the day, we have a loss of family now, wiped out. So please, whoever done it, own up, be a man.’

Philip English’s former wife Anne English said they were a happy family, adding: ‘I just have no words. I’m lost, and I’m going to be lost without them.

‘I have no words, just disbelief. They were a lovely couple. Never bothering anyone. The kids were his (Philip’s) life.’

Crowds from the local community filled the green area in Birchwood for a balloon release ceremony on Wednesday night to commemorate the lives of the four people who died in the fire.

Family members sang You’ll Never Walk Alone in tears as hundreds of balloons were released into the sky.

One local mother told her young child: ‘They’re waiting up there to catch them all.’

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Wednesday that the Government will put in place all resources needed for the Garda investigation.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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