Philip and Kim English, and two of their sons, Callum (12) and Jayden (8), were murdered in an attack on their home 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 (14) and a boy (6) – were rescued by firefighters and remained critically ill in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Crumlin, Dublin, on Wednesday night.
“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 on the home in Waterford city. He also believed he knew who was involved.
“Twenty grand worth of a debt. Is that worth [four] lives, 20 grand? I am not afraid to say it; if I was I wouldn’t be able to die in peace. My family is dead. It’s unreal. Innocent children, the whole lot of them innocent,” he said, saying his father was not involved in drugs or any form of crime.
John James English said that when his mother, Anne, was forced out of her house for about two months after it was petrol-bombed, his father, Philip, and stepmother, Kim, opened their home to Anne. She stayed there for eight weeks.
On Wednesday, Anne said her deceased ex-husband and his wife were a “beloved couple who never had any bother with anyone ... the kids were their life”.
[ Granduncle of boys killed in Waterford arson attack calls on perpetrators to hand themselves in ]
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, Waterford. “Please, whoever done it, be a man and own up to what you done.”
Gardaí believe the arson attack just after 5am on Tuesday that engulfed the home on the Birchwood estate was carried out on behalf of a family-based violent gang of drug dealers in Waterford who also have links to Spain.
Suspects have been identified. Gardaí believe the attacker, a male, was driven to the scene by an accomplice, possibly a woman.
The gang is also suspected of vandalising the victims’ family car with paint in August 2023, throwing a petrol bomb at the house last month and attacking Anne English’s home. The family had also been targeted by rumours and threats online.
The murder investigation was described by An Garda Síochána as being “intense in nature and very active with multiple searches” at properties across Waterford city, linked to members of the suspected gang.
Two people they expected to find were not present in the properties, but a number of phones, laptops and vehicles were seized for technical examination.
Detectives are examining CCTV footage recorded in the area recently to determine if those who carried out the attack had visited the property in advance as part of their planning.
Chief Supt Andrew Pettit, of Waterford-Kilkenny Garda division, said people linked to those responsible needed to consider their positions after the four-fatality murder, urging them to come forward.
The crime scene on Birch Avenue remained sealed off on Wednesday.
Gardaí appealed to anyone who was in the vicinity between 4.30am and 5.30am on Tuesday to contact the incident room at Waterford Garda station on 051 305300, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.