TODAY marks the tenth anniversary of a fatal blaze in Omagh which killed a family of seven, the biggest single loss of life in a fire in Ireland since 48 people died in the Stardust disaster in Dublin in 1981.
Arthur McElhill murdered his partner Lorraine McGovern and five children in a fire at their home in Lammy Crescent in the town on November 13 2007.
The bodies of McElhill, Ms McGovern, Caroline (13), Sean (seven), Bellina (four), Clodagh (19 months) and James (nine months) were found inside the burnt out remains of the house.
An image of the charred remains of a cot captured the scale of the horror.
McElhill, who had twice been convicted of sexually assaulting teenage girls and had been being treated for depression, had been drinking heavily and regularly beating his partner in the weeks leading up to the fire.
A registered sex offender, he had been under monitoring but was assessed as 'low risk' in 2004 and subjected to less scrutiny.
An inquest heard that he had been having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl who had been staying at the family home and had been bombarding another teenage girl with hundreds of sexually explicit text messages.
It is believed that McElhill started the blaze after his partner announced she was leaving him.
At the inquest in 2009, harrowing details of the fatal fire were revisited as the telephone call for help from 13-year-old Caroline McGovern was played to the court.
Caroline was found with a mobile phone in one hand and a pair of rosary beads in the other.
Irish News reporter Diana Rusk wrote at the time: "One relative put his hands over his ears. A firefighter due to give evidence left the room. Some of the faces of journalists present turned white.
"As well as the teenager’s frantic pleas, muffled screams of help could also be heard in the distance from other family members on the recording. Caroline then spluttered the partially coherent: “He’s k... us."
Neighbours who had frantically attempted to save the family spoke of how McElhill ignored their efforts.
Mark McGlinn placed one of his ladders on the windowsill and urged the father of five to either climb down or pass someone else out.
"He stared at me for three or four seconds with no response – no shouting or screaming," Mr McGlinn said.
"Then he just turned back in."
DUP West Tyrone MLA Tom Buchanan said that the "horrific" tragedy marked a "very difficult time for the Omagh community".
He said: "People have carried that memory with them. Even now, if you speak to people ten years later, it is fresh to them. It is not something that people in Omagh will forget easily.
"That really showed the true community spirit at that time, the support to the families closely involved, and to the neighbours in such close proximity.
Mr Buchanan said that while the house was demolished in 2011, it is "hard to erase that memory from the area".
"The town was always associated with the bomb, and this would be as well. When you have children that are vulnerable in society, that strikes a chord, and people find it very difficult to forget," he added.
