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Six-year-old Elliot English died at Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin on Friday, 6 November 2026, twenty-four days after a petrol bombing at his family home in Waterford, and almost four weeks after the deaths of his parents and two brothers. Elliot had survived open-heart surgery as an infant. His parents, Philip English, 58, and Kim English, 38, and his brothers, Callum, 12, and Jayden, 9, were killed in the fire at 7 Birch Avenue in the Birchwood estate shortly after 5:00 am on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. A fourteen-year-old girl rescued from the same house remains under specialist care. An Garda Síochána continues to investigate what it formally describes as a multiple murder, and no individual has been charged with murder in connection with the five deaths.
Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that Elliot was born with a heart defect and underwent open-heart surgery at Children’s Health Ireland as a baby. He recovered, and in December 2020 the children’s ambulance charity BUMBLEance photographed him on his way home for Christmas after the operation, calling him “king bee Elliot”. He later appeared in the charity’s 2021 calendar. His brother Jayden, nine, was also born with a heart condition and had undergone heart surgery just a fortnight before he died in the fire. Both boys travelled regularly to Dublin appointments in BUMBLEance ambulances and were described by the charity as its “two heart warriors”, sharing the same chromosome disorder and heart defect.
Áine Phelan, a Waterford-based paramedic who previously worked with BUMBLEance, told journalists she was deeply saddened by Elliot’s death. “To think of Elliot joining Kim, Phillip, Callum and Jayden is an unimaginable sorrow for everyone who knew and loved them,” she said, describing him as “a precious little boy”. Phelan said that spending those journeys with the brothers and being by their side in Crumlin was “an honour”, adding: “They all brought so much light, bravery and fun into the ambulance.” Kim English had publicly thanked BUMBLEance staff in a Christmas 2020 post for bringing her and her children “safe and sound” to Dublin and back. In a statement last month, the charity said the English family “touched the hearts of many” and that its team was “without words” in the face of an “unimaginable loss”.
An Garda Síochána has consistently stated that the English family had no involvement in criminality. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that detectives believe the household was targeted over an external twenty-thousand-euro drug debt incurred by an acquaintance, not by Philip English. A local neighbour told Daily Dazzling Dawn that the couple and their children were entirely innocent. John James English, Philip’s adult son, has said publicly that his family was “terrorised for years” and that his father’s first wife, Ann English, had also had her home petrol-bombed. The contrast is now unavoidable: a family that spent years managing surgeries, hospital appointments and ambulance journeys for two sons with congenital heart conditions was, according to investigators, selected for violence over money someone else owed. Elliot and the fourteen-year-old girl were rescued by firefighters, initially taken to University Hospital Waterford and then transferred to Crumlin.
Read more: Waterford Fire: Five Dead, What Is the Surviving Child's Condition?
Fianna Fáil TD Mary Butler, the Government Chief Whip, said she was devastated. “It’s absolutely devastating and heartbreaking that Elliot’s little gentle soul has passed,” she said. “My thoughts are with his extended family who are still mourning the loss of his parents and brothers. I’d like to commend the healthcare staff at Crumlin who have cared for Elliot for the past four weeks.” A Garda spokesperson said: “The thoughts of all members of An Garda Síochána are with the extended English family at this sad time.”
Two people remain in custody in connection with the fatal fire. Jessica Dalton, 31, with an address in Waterford city, and Cian Stacey, 21, of no fixed abode, were charged at a special sitting of Clonmel District Court with one count of criminal damage and two counts of Section 4 assault causing serious harm under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. They were remanded in custody and are due before Waterford District Court by video-link on 17 November 2026. Neither has been charged with murder. Four other people arrested under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 were released without charge, with files sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Seven searches across Waterford city have yielded vehicles, mobile phones and laptops for forensic examination. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly told the Policing and Community Safety Authority in County Cavan on 29 October that every available resource had been committed to the murder investigation and that further arrests were anticipated.
John James English posted on social media that Elliot is “in God’s arms” and back with his parents and brothers. The family has asked for its “dignity and right to grieve” to be respected and urged the public to keep the fourteen-year-old girl in their prayers. Funeral arrangements for Elliot are to be finalised in the coming days. Philip, Kim, Callum and Jayden were laid to rest at Kilbarry Cemetery last month following a Requiem Mass at the Sacred Heart Church in The Folly, where players from Johnville FC, Callum’s club, formed a guard of honour. Gardaí continue to appeal for dashcam footage and witness information from Birch Avenue between 4:30 am and 5:30 am on 13 October 2026 via Waterford Garda Station on 051 305300 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111. A child who once left Crumlin with a repaired heart has now left it in a hearse. Five members of one family are dead. Two people sit in custody on non-fatal charges. The alleged architects of the arson have yet to face a murder charge. Individuals before the courts are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise.
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