MYSTERY surrounds the tragic death of a pensioner in a Christmas Day house fire.
The 62-year-old Philip Archer was already dead in his living room when emergency services arrived at the Northumberland bungalow on Sunday evening.
Last night police and firefighters were still working to establish how the blaze at the house on Elgin Close in Bedlington Station, started.
And residents in the quiet cul-de-sac told of their shock at hearing that the their neighbour had died as they enjoyed Christmas with their families.
Father-of-two Billy Thomas, 39, who lives across the road, said: “We were in the house but we didn’t see or hear anything, then we saw the fire engines turn up. And that’s when everybody knew something bad had happened.
It’s terrible for it to happen on Christmas Day.”
Emergency services were called to the street shortly after 5.30pm.
Neighbours said the man lived alone in the bungalow but was well-known to everyone on the street.
Mr Thomas added: “He was a canny bloke. He kept himself to himself but would always say ‘hi’ on the street. He was really friendly.”
The fire is understood to have broken out in the living room but was extinguished by the time firefighters arrived.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. And fire crews from West Hartford Fire Station worked to ventilate the home and preserve the scene so that investigations into the cause of the blaze could begin.
