Murder Probe As Man And Girl Killed In Blaze

A murder investigation is under way after a man and his young sister died in a house fire in Scotland.

Emergency services were called in the early hours of Sunday following a report of a fire at a house in Scott Court in the town of Helensburgh, near Glasgow.

A 21-year-old man was found dead at the scene and an eight-year-old girl died later in hospital.

Their parents - a 55-year-old man and his 46-year-old wife - are being treated at the Royal Alexandra hospital, in Paisley, for serious burns.

An investigation is under way to discover the cause of the fire but police say they believe it was started deliberately.

Police said post-mortem examinations will be carried out.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Anne McKerchar, said: "This is a tragic event made worse by the fact that it was a deliberate act."

One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "They had lived there a few years and were a nice normal family. It is terrible. It makes any problems the rest of us might have seem insignificant."