Mum & daughter die in blaze

A MUM and her three- year-old daughter died in an inferno at their flat.

Neighbours saw smoke pouring from inside. Cops have not ruled out arson.

The victims were named last night as Tara-Jayne Mallon, thought to be in her 30s, and blonde tot Chloe.

Firemen discovered their bodies inside a bedroom at the three-storey block. Police would not comment on a claim that a bed had been put across the door.

It also emerged it was the SECOND fire at the flat, in Earlsfield, South West London, in just 12 months.

A neighbour said that the woman's husband, Lee, got home on Friday night at 10.30pm to see police and firemen at his flat.

She said: "He crouched down with his hands over his head and seemed to freeze. His car was taken away on a tow truck and he went with police."

The family of three are believed to have lived at the flat for three years. One neighbour said: "It was a very volatile relationship. They argued a lot."

Cops refused to discuss the circumstances of the fire but said they are keeping an "open mind" about the cause of the blaze.

Det Supt Michael McNally confirmed the earlier fire but refused to say what caused it.

Tara-Jayne's mother Patricia Finnegan was too upset to talk about the tragedy.

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