Crimewatch appeal prompts calls

Feb 21 2008

DETECTIVES received a “significant number” of calls after a hotel fire which killed three Midland people was featured on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme.

The fire at the Penhallow Hotel in the seaside town of Newquay, Cornwall, claimed the lives of Joan Harper, 80, from Stoke-on-Trent; Peter Hughes, 43, and his mother Monica, 86, from Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire.

Their deaths are being treated as murder by Devon and Cornwall Police.

Crimewatch made the fire and its aftermath the lead item, and a dramatic reconstruction showed scenes inside the hotel as the flames swept through it.

The investigation revealed that the fire started behind the bar, spread room by room and floor by floor, and the only possible cause was a deliberate act.

Detective Chief Inspector Darren Lockley said the calls made to the show included some “very interesting ones” from former members of staff connected with the hotel.

“Officers are actively following those leads at the moment,” he said.

Around 90 people escaped from the blaze, which police described as the worst the county had seen in 30 years, as it ripped through the building in the early hours of Saturday, August 18.

Last month two men aged 21 and 44 were arrested on suspicion of murder and after questioning were released on bail until April 9.