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Mother bailed after children pulled from burning house

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The family who helped save the occupants from the fire. Laura Dee Jefferson in the dark blue jumper with husband and wife Sarah-Jo Vane and Anthony Vane.
The family who helped save the occupants from the fire. Laura Dee Jefferson in the dark blue jumper with husband and wife Sarah-Jo Vane and Anthony Vane.

The mother of two small children who were trapped in a house fire in Headcorn has been bailed while police decide whether to prosecute her.

Dawn Nash, 40, of Knaves Acre was detained on suspicion of child neglect after her young son and daughter were dramatically rescued from the flames by neighbours.

The fire on Sunday evening is not thought to be suspicious.

It comes after neighbours risked their lives to rescue two small children trapped in a blazing house.

Four fire crews went to Knaves Acre, Headcorn, at just after 7.20pm on Sunday night after reports that two children, aged six and three, were trapped in a house fire.

Neighbours Sarah-Jo and Anthony Vane, and Mrs Vane's sister Laura Jefferson, were alerted to the blaze when another neighbour knocked on their door.


~Watch: See Laura Dee Jefferson tell of the moment she helped rescue the children, at the top of this page


Miss Jefferson, who works as a teacher at Canterbury High School, said she could hear the children screaming. With the help of her sister she broke through a garage door to get to the back of the house.

She said: "I scrabbled up some trellising and on to a conservatory roof. I could see the little girl huddled and the little boy was near the window. It was thick with smoke."

As downstairs windows started to smash, Miss Jefferson managed to force open the window and tried unsuccessfully to pull the children out.

At that point her brother-in-law put a ladder to the window and climbed up and grabbed the six-year-old boy. Mr Vane pulled the other child free, and Miss Jefferson jumped from the conservatory roof.

She said: "There were bangs and explosions everywhere, we all just ran for cover."

The children were taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were on the scene until 11.30pm and were back there on Monday morning.

A police spokesman said the blaze is not being treated as suspicious but a woman was helping officers with their enquiries.


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