Respects paid to Atherstone-in-Stour victims

Wednesday was the third anniversary of the blaze at a vegetable-packing factory in Atherstone-in-Stour, in which Ashley Stephens, Darren Yates-Badley, Ian Reid and John Averis from the county’s fire and rescue service died.

Nine retained crew members at Kenilworth observed a two-minute silence during their usual drill time, while parades were held in Stratford and Alcester.

Crew manager Sarah Walters said: “We still want to show our respects to our fallen colleagues, but it also needs to be kept in everyone’s minds that we do need to be careful on all our jobs.”

Warwickshire Police has been leading a major investigation into the incident, which officers say is near its end.

Twelve people have been arrested, ten on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and two on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.

They are due to answer to bail early next year.