Elderly man dies in fire at £2 million Victorian house in Richmond as neighbours watch in horror

A floral tribute has been left in front of a house of an elderly man who died in a fire at a £2 million Victorian house in Richmond, south west London. The incident reportedly occurred at around 8pm on Monday night (January 15) with fire engines attending the three-storey house as terrified neighbours watched on from the street - hoping their elderly neighbour was not inside the property.

But a spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade later confirmed an elderly man had sadly died in the house fire. Neighbours estimated the man, whose address was 73 Onslow Road, was between 80 and 90 years old, and may have had a carer.

In a statement, London Fire Brigade said: "Sadly, a man has died following a house fire in Richmond. Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters responded to a fire on Onslow Road, in a building of three floors. Part of the ground floor was damaged by the fire. A man was found in the home, and sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

"The Brigade was called at 8.08pm, and the fire was under control by 10.05pm. Firefighters from Richmond, Kingston and Twickenham fire stations attended the scene. The fire is under investigation by the Brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service."

One neighbour, who has lived just across the road, said firefighters had told his wife that the fire was believed to have started in the kitchen of the home. Ian Manning said: “A fireman said it started in the kitchen. My wife offered them drinks and they told her they believed it started in the kitchen.

“The house was bought five or six years ago. We got alerted that there were people on our front drive, and we went out to see a fireman there. There was smoke billowing out of the house and it continued for the best part of an hour.

“About 15 minutes after we came out to see what was going on, flames suddenly erupted just inside the front door. We could see naked flames, which was very strange because it had been probably around half an hour since it had started by that time.”

A single bunch of flowers, left by a neighbour, can be seen outside the property in front of a parked police car.

Another neighbour said that though he didn’t personally know the elderly victim, he would see him from time to time - though rarely without another person. Brenton Booth, a company director originally from South Africa who lives just a few doors down from No. 73, presumed the person he would see the elderly man with was either a member of family or his carer.

He said: “I didn’t know the man, though I had seen him around before. He was an elderly gentleman. When I did see him he was with a family member or some form of carer. They were always with him when he left the house."

CID (Criminal Investigation Department) officers were seen knocking doors on the street, asking neighbours if they’d noticed anything ‘suspicious’ last night.