Separate burials for fire family

Julian Fowler
BBC News

Members of the McElhill family are to be buried on Saturday

The funeral for the seven victims of the Omagh fire will take place on Saturday morning.

Arthur McElhill, Lorraine McGovern and their five children will be buried at separate locations.

The funeral arrangements for the family, who died in the fire at Lammy Crescent earlier this month, had been the subject of controversy.

Mr McElhill will be buried in Ederney, Fermanagh, while the others will be buried at Corlough in County Cavan.

The funeral Mass will be held at 1000 GMT at Sacred Heart Church, Omagh, County Tyrone.

It was reported that mediators were brought in when it emerged that Arthur McElhill was being treated as a suspect in the murder investigation.

The coroner would not release the bodies after completing post mortem examinations until the funeral arrangements had been confirmed.

A murder inquiry was launched by the police after investigators discovered petrol had been scattered inside the house and had been set alight.

No more details about the murder investigation have been released.