The families of the victims of a house fire which killed 13 people in London's New Cross more than 40 years ago continue to believe the blaze was started by a racist arsonist.
The fire broke out in a three-storey property in south-east London during a joint teenagers' birthday party in January 1981.
No one was ever charged by the Metropolitan Police in connection with the tragedy and two inquests – in 2002 and 2004 – recorded open verdicts.
But in a new BBC three-part series directed by filmmaker Steve McQueen, fire survivor George Ruddock – whose cousins Paul and Yvonne Ruddock died in hospital after the fire – said he believes '100 per cent' the fire was a 'racist attack'.
Speaking in Uprising, which aired this week, survivors and others also spoke of the racist abuse they suffered while living in 1980s London, including from members of the far-right National Front who were active in New Cross.
Mr Ruddock said his sister, who was also at the party, saw someone in a white car 'throw something at the house' shortly before the fire started.
But former officer Jackie Malton, who was then a Detective Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police, said in the programme that while investigators were aware 'that a fire bomb was possible', 'there was no forensic evidence that a missile had come through the house'.
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The families of the victims of a house fire which killed 13 people in London's New Cross more than 40 years ago continue to believe the blaze was started by a racist arsonist. The fire broke out in a three-storey property in south-east London during joint teenagers' birthday party in January 1981
Witness Carl Wright told investigators at the time that he had seen a man emerge from a car and go towards the front door of the home – on 439 New Cross Road.
He said he then heard glass break after the man had made a throwing movement with his hand. The man was then seen driving away.
But Ms Malton, whose career in the Met inspired hit show Prime Suspect, said it was later established that the man had seen the fire breaking out and had gone to the front door to try to knock on it.
But when he encountered the heat from the flames, he recoiled and instinctively raised his arm to protect himself – making it appear as though he had made a throwing action.
The former officer said: 'The investigative team were aware that a fire bomb was possible but there was nothing found inside the house so there was no forensic evidence that a missile had come through the house, it wasn't there.
'Secondly, it was discovered the man who went to the house and drove off quickly, he had seen the fire, he stopped his car, he ran to the house, banged on the door or whatever, I think the heat was so fierce that he went like that [makes recoil action].'
No one was ever charged by the Metropolitan Police in connection with the tragedy and two inquests – in 2002 and 2004 – recorded open verdicts. But in a new BBC three-part series directed by filmmaker Steve McQueen, fire survivor George Ruddock – whose cousins Paul and Yvonne Ruddock died in hospital after the fire – said he believes '100 per cent' the fire was a 'racist attack'
But former officer Jackie Malton, who was then a Detective Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police, said in the programme that while investigators were aware 'that a fire bomb was possible', 'there was no forensic evidence that a missile had come through the house'
Mr Ruddock had said: 'My sister Claudette Ruddock, before the fire started she saw somebody in a white car throw something at the house.
'So a lot of people believed it was definitely a racist fire attack on that party. That is what they believed. And all of us believed that. 100%. Well why wouldn't you?'
Activist Leila Hassan Howe helped to organise a 20,000-strong march through London known as the Black People's Day of Action in the days following the fire.
She said in Wednesday's programme: 'The black community was really clear that this was a fascist attack, and we knew that the police would be very very reluctant to actually deal with that.
'And so feelings were running extremely high.'
Defending the police response to the fire, Ms Malton said: 'I will tell you this: Every one of us, every one of us, tried our hardest to get to the bottom of it, and to find out how that fire was started and who did it.
The New Cross house fire was a fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981
The scene in Clifton Rise, New Cross, as police battle with National Front demonstrators and anti-fascist protestors when marchers
