Jack and Paul had gone up into the attic to play with their new trains. Their father had blocked the front and back doors before setting fires all around the home. He joined them up in the loft, closing the hatch and trapping them. The first firefighter found Jack on the landing and picked him up. But he was already badly burned. He had tried to escape and get help for his brother. Despite his condition, he went on to reveal what had happened. “My dad did this and he did it on purpose.”

He and his brother were rushed to Sheffield Children’s Hospital - Jack had 56% burns and Paul was unconscious. Their father was taken to another hospital in the city, where he died. A police car sped Claire to the hospital to see her children. “I went into a room and the consultant was drenched in sweat. “There was Paul and they were doing CPR on him. I knew pretty much that there was no hope.”

The doctor stopped the CPR and Claire held Paul in her arms. “My tears were in his hair. And his hair was damp. His eyes closed and it was just as if nothing... was looking back. “I promised him that no other parent would have to do what I did... and hold a child in their arms whilst they died, knowing it's at the hands of somebody who should love and protect them.” Jack was transferred to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for specialist burns treatment. Claire stayed by his bedside for the next five days. She finally said goodbye on 27 October. That was the day that Jack had been due to give his views about his father for the Section 7 report. He never got the chance to be heard. Only a very small proportion of abusive spouses go on to commit murder. Each time though, questions are asked as to whether the authorities could have done more. There are serious case reviews.

Claire feels that Cafcass let down her children. Claire learned from the police that the boys’ father had blocked the family liaison officer in her office on Monday 20 October - two days before the fire. Claire says that if only she’d been told promptly about that, she would never have allowed her sons to see their father later in the same week. Cafcass does acknowledge the meeting had to be stopped but doesn’t believe there was any indication that the boys' father might cause immediate harm to them.

“Cafcass accepted the findings of the coroner and the serious case review, who agreed that the children died due to unlawful killing and that no public authority could have predicted or prevented the tragedy,” a spokesman says. “However, we do regret that some aspects of our work with Ms Throssell’s family did not meet the high standards we set for our staff.” Cafcass says it has now improved the way it assesses risk. “We continuously develop our practice and this year launched a Domestic Abuse Practice Pathway, which provides our staff with a clear, robust framework to assess cases involving domestic abuse.” The serious case review into Jack and Paul’s deaths at the hands of their father said: “The vast majority of estranged fathers would not consider such actions and... there is no known way of identifying those who will do so.”