The deaths of a man and a woman in a Co Down house fire appear to have been the result of a domestic incident, writes Monika Unsworth, in Kilkeel.
While the RUC is treating as suspicious the blaze in which Ms Anne Cole McLaughlin (35), and her partner Mr David McLaughlin (39), died, a police spokesman said they were not looking for anybody else in connection with the incident.
Three of the couple's young children and a teenager escaped the blaze which broke out in the family's rented bungalow on the Dunavel Road shortly before 9 p.m. on Sunday.
A man checking cattle nearby was alerted by the crying of the children, aged between four and six. He alerted police who arrived a short time later with the fire brigade and men from a GAA club. They attempted to reach the couple on the first floor landing but were beaten back by heat and smoke.
Once the fire, which seems to have been restricted to the first floor, was extinguished, the bodies of Ms McLaughlin, a native of Kilkeel, and her partner, who is believed to have been from Donegal, were recovered. It is thought the couple had become estranged over recent months with Mr McLaughlin living in a nearby mobile home.
Last night post-mortems were being carried out on the bodies. The couple's children are being cared for by relatives in Kilkeel.