Gardaí investigating the murder of four people in an arson attack in Co Waterford have seized a number of mobile phones and several vehicles, as two children remain in a critical condition in hospital.
Philip and Kim English, and two of their sons, Callum (12) and Jayden (8), were murdered by a gang trying to collect a €20,000 drug debt, a family member has said.
John James English, Philip English’s adult son from his first marriage, said the debt had been incurred by somebody else, not his father.
Two other children – a girl aged 14 years and a boy aged six – remain critically ill in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Crumlin, Dublin.
“Debts, drug debts, and I know that for a fact,” John James English told RTÉ when asked why he believed the arson attack was carried out.
“My family is dead, it’s unreal. Innocent children, the whole lot of them innocent,” he said, adding that his father was not involved in drugs or any form of crime.
Another member of the family – James English, the granduncle of Philip English – also spoke out, addressing the killer directly. “We have lost a family now, wiped out,” he said at a vigil for the family at the Sacred Heart Church, The Folly. “Please, whoever done it, be a man and own up to what you done.”
Searches on Tuesday, which included some properties with possible links to the local drugs trade, were aimed at gathering evidence, rather than seeking people for arrest. No arrests have been made, gardaí confirmed.
Detectives have established lines of inquiry and have identified suspects quickly as the campaign of intimidation against the family – by a local drugs gang in Waterford city – had been ongoing for some time.
The house at Birch Avenue remains a crime scene and subject of a technical examination by the Garda Technical Bureau.
Postmortems on the deceased are continuing at University Hospital Waterford by Chief State Pathologist Linda Mulligan and State Pathologist SallyAnne Collis.
Garda family liaison officers continue to engage with the family.
The Garda team also believes the family had shared their concerns and information about their situation with people in their social circle, who may now be able to aid the inquiry.
“There are people in the community who know the person or persons who carried out this arson attack in which four people have been murdered,” Garda Chief Supt Anthony Pettit said.
The family had approached local representatives in recent weeks in the hopes of securing a council transfer to another home as they felt unsafe.
The family’s home, on the Birchwood estate just south of Waterford city, had been attacked before, most recently last month, when a petrol bomb was thrown at their car.
In 2023, the same vehicle was vandalised with a bucket of paint, but it is unclear whether this was directly linked to the arson attacks in recent weeks.
The latest attack, which happened just after 5am on Tuesday, involved a petrol bomb, which was thrown at the front door, causing a fire that spread through the two-storey semidetached house.
In addition to the two adults and two children who died, two other children suffered critical injuries.
They were initially taken to University Hospital Waterford but moved to Children’s Health Ireland in Crumlin on Tuesday. They remained in critical condition on Wednesday morning.
Though the investigation is at an early stage, gardaí suspect Philip English had taken on a drug debt incurred by an associate in an effort to keep the associate safe.
Gardaí strongly suspect the local crime gang that was owed money targeted the family on Tuesday morning, and was also behind last month’s attack.
The Taoiseach said on Wednesday the Government will put in place all resources needed for the Garda investigation, and for community supports, as he thanked the first responders for dealing with “what was a very traumatic situation”.
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“Our thoughts are still very much on the shocking murder yesterday of the members of the English family,” Micheál Martin said.
“The situation is extremely shocking in terms of the level of violence and the consequences of an entire family to be impacted in this manner, and I think we, as a Government, will ensure that the full resources are behind An Garda Síochána.
“It’s also a period [when] we have to really examine and reflect on this phenomenon of arson attacks on innocent people, and with absolutely no consideration for human life and for the impact of such actions, and I know the Minister for Justice and others will be working extremely hard to stamp this out and to deal very resolutely and robustly with this.”