McElhill Started Horror Blaze

The man at the heart of a sordid sex scandal has been ruled as having killed himself and his family in a tragic house fire in Omagh.

Coroner Suzanne Anderson said this morning that convicted sex offender Arthur McElhill burned the family's house down because his partner, Lorraine McGovern, threatened to leave him.

He killed himself, his partner and their five children, 13-year-old Caroline, seven-year-old Sean, Bellina, 4, Clodagh, 19 months and James, nine months.

This is thought to be because he was found out to be having sex with a 16-year-old family babysitter in the weeks before the fire.

"I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Arthur McElhill and Lorraine McGovern had been up all night and that she was about to leave, taking with her at least some of her children, when the fire was started by Arthur McElhill," said Ms Anderson.

In the burned shell of the house, investigators found five full bottles of baby milk in an upstairs bedroom.

However, the coroner said she could not prove conclusively that McElhill had intended to commit suicide, noting that he had broken an upstairs window in an apparent bid to escape the home as the blaze took hold.

The inquest only re-opened on Monday after a two month adjournment, due to an attempt to suppress details of McElhill's sexual behaviour.

Statements heard yesterday included those from a 16-year-old girl with whom Arthur McElhill had had a sexual relationship before the fire which killed his family in November 2007.

According to the BBC, the inquest heard of his previous suicide attempts, and his use of a Bebo social-networking account in his son's name to groom teenage girls for sex.

It emerged he was having a sexual relationship with the girl, known as Witness A, in the period before his death.

Giving evidence anonymously, Witness A said she had begun having sex with Arthur McElhill four months before the fire.

The teenage babysitter had intercourse with him on at least 10 occasions in the bedroom of his house, sometimes when his wife and children were downstairs.

She said he first lured her to an upstairs bedroom to have a look at his computer.

The last time she had sex with him was about three weeks before the fire, she added.

In the intervening time, McElhill began bombarding another teenager, 16-year-old Witness B, with obscene text messages and phone calls asking for sex.

She said that in one call, McElhill had asked her to go for a drive with him and some friends. He said they "could make love in the back seat".

Detective Chief Inspector Derek Scott told the inquest that McElhill was aware that his previous sexual offences were the topic of conversation around Omagh.

"He had been confronted at his house by a female who made it clear she had been told that he had previous convictions," he said.

Arthur McElhill had previously tried to explain away his presence on the sex offenders register by claiming that his convictions were for having sex with his partner Lorraine when she was underage.

See: Omagh Blaze Inquest Halted

(BMcC/KMcA)