A FAMILY living next door to a house destroyed in an arson attack are too scared to return home.

Pasquale and Mary Mercer fled from their smoke-filled home with three children following the blaze last Monday.

The fire claimed the life of 37-year-old Richard Perkins, who was found dead in an upstairs bedroom.

Mr Mercer said: “I just want out, I am not going to put my family back in the house.”

He said his 11-year-old step-daughter Carol-May Brown was staying with them when the fire started and got the family out of the house.

“She is our hero. She heard next door screaming and woke everyone up and got them out.

“I cannot have her going back into the room where it was filled with smoke and she had to flee the house.

“It is too traumatic.”

The 44-year-old father said his two-year-old daughter Amber has become very clingy since the fire. Both he and his 31-year-old wife have been prescribed sleeping pills by their doctor and Mr Mercer has been signed off work for a week.

The home, in The Glade, Malvern, has been deemed habitable by Festival Housing and the family is now expected to move back in.

But they are still living with friends in Malvern.

A spokesman for Festival Housing said: “We have been in discussion with all residents affected to ascertain their needs. We will now be looking to the future with residents and will be providing further support as necessary.”

Four people escaped the fire which was tackled by 30 firefighters.

Shaun and Ben Perkins have both been discharged from Worcestershire Royal Hospital, but their mother Roseann, aged 40, is on a ventilator, while 17-year-old Katie has made a significant improvement after doctors took her off a ventilator.

Fifty-year-old Stephen George-Davies, of Oak Crescent, Malvern, has been charged with murder and arson with intent to endanger life.