Couple die in blaze as rescuers beaten back by flames

control after they were called out at 6.15am on Saturday.

Next-door neighbour Tracy Allison, 29, woke to the sound of heavy rain and looked out of the window to be greeted by the fire.

Still visibly upset yesterday, she said: “I was looking out at the rain and spotted Anna at her window, I thought she was looking at the rain too but then I noticed the smoke. Anna was hanging out of the window screaming ‘help me, help me’.”

Mrs Allison took her five-month-old daughter, Mia, and rushed out of her house, covering the baby’s head with a blanket to protect her from the heavy smoke outside.

She said: “I was going to drop the baby around a neighbour’s house across the road and try and come back and smash the window with a hammer or something.

“But by the time I got outside she had stopped screaming, she was gone.

“I will never forget the sound of her cries for help. I haven’t been able to sleep since it happened.

“I saw them the day before and it was so normal. They were such lovely people.”