A four-year-old boy has tragically passed away several days after a horrific house fire in Wigan.
His 45-year-old dad also died from his injuries on the day of the blaze, at around 2.30am on Sunday 14 April.
The young boy was rushed to hospital with serious injuries, but died in hospital earlier today.
Four other people received treatment following the house fire on Warrington Road at the weekend.
Local authorities do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances involved in the incident.
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And Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue are continuing to investigate the causes of the fire and are in regular contact with officers.
A GoFundMe page set up to support the family has named the father and son as Barry and Ethan Mason.
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Prior to Ethan’s death, it said: “Hello, my name is Jessica. Yesterday morning at around 1am my sister’s house went up in flames.
“Devastatingly we lost my brother in law and my beautiful little nephew has suffered over 86% burns to his body.
“The last thing this man did was to run back into a burning house and save his little boy.”
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It then detailed that Ethan had spent a long time in surgery and been placed in an induced coma, and was given only a 10% chance of survival. Tragically, he did not make it.
The GoFundMe continued: “We are all absolutely heartbroken, but my sister and her other children have lost absolutely everything.
“I have set up this go fund me to not only help with funeral costs but to help with clothing and other necessities for her other babies, and to help with the financial burden my sister will have to cope with on top of losing her husband and having her baby in hospital for god knows how long.
“Anything you can donate will be massively appreciated. Thankyou for reading and Love to all.
“Hold your babies a little bit tighter because you just never know.”
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The GoFundMe has already raised more than £33,000, at the time of writing.
Detective Inspector Lee Gridley, from GMP’s Wigan district, said: “This is a devastating incident and all of our thoughts are with the family of this young boy, who had his entire life ahead of him.
“Together with the earlier death, this is a tragedy for the Wigan community and I know that many people will be shocked by this heartbreaking news.
“I hope people will join us in sending their absolute best wishes to all those involved in this incident, as they begin their journey in the healing process.
“While we are not treating the incident as suspicious, if anyone has any information they believe is important, please do get in touch with us. You can do this by calling police on 101, quoting log 393 of 14/04/2024.”
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The family have asked for their privacy as they come to terms with their loss, and have asked for people to respect their grieving process.
Major headliner pulls out of Manchester Village Pride
Daisy Jackson
One of the Manchester Village Pride headliners has had to pull out of their scheduled appearance, just one day before the celebrations begin.
Nadine Coyle was supposed to be headlining the LGBTQ+ event on Friday 27 August.
But in a statement shared by Manchester Village Pride today, they announced that the former Girls Aloud star is ‘under the weather’.
Nadine will be pulling out of her headline slot to ‘rest and recuperate’, but added that she hopes to see Manchester for Pride again soon.
Thankfully, Manchester Village Pride has already found a suitably fabulous replacement for the main stage on Friday – B*Witched.
The iconic Irish girl group will be encouraging ticket-holders to dig out their double denim and dance to hits like C’est La Vie and Rollercoaster.
In the statement shared by Manchester Village Pride, Nadine’s team said: “Nadine is so sorry to have to step out of Manchester Village Pride this year. It was her very first Pride many years ago and she loves getting to spend time with you all.
“Nadine’s voice has been under the weather and she only wants to give absolute best to you all which sadly won’t be possible this weekend as she needs time to rest and recuperate.
“We hate to do it so near the day. Nadine was really hoping she was going to be well enough and hopes she can see you in Manchester for Pride again soon.
“Thank you for being so kind and understanding and we hope you have a wonderful weekend.”
Manchester Village Pride added: “We know how excited many of you were for a massive hit of 2000s pop nostalgia, and we promised you a party. We’ve been working around the clock, and we are beyond thrilled to announce that pop royalty B*WITCHED are stepping in at the eleventh hour!”
Chester Zoo announces return of its £10 tickets for limited time only with extended opening hours
Emily Sergeant
Chester Zoo has announced the return of its popular £10 tickets deal for a limited time only.
You may remember that earlier this summer, Chester Zoo invited people from across the North West to visit for just £10, and as the offer proved so popular, they’ve now brought it back again for a limited time.
For the past three years running now, Chester Zoo has officially been named the UK’s best zoo thanks to tens of thousands of positive TripAdvisor reviews, and now as the summer draws to a close, you’ll get to see exactly what makes it such a special place worth visiting for a cut price.
With the offer only applicable to afternoons this summer, Afternoon Tickets allow entry to Chester Zoo from 2pm onwards – with the last entry being one-hour before it closes.
Chester Zoo is offering £10 tickets to visitors this summer / Credit: Chester Zoo
Without this offer, standard admission tickets to Chester Zoo usually cost up to £38 for adults, £37 for students, and £28 for children, all including a 10% donation to the zoo’s conservation efforts, while babies and carers go free.
So it really is worth making the most of these limited-time £10 tickets while you still can – with the offer now running until 6 September.
The best bit about the offer returning? The zoo is currently operating its extended opening hours until 6pm too, so included for the bargain price of a £10 ticket, you’ll even get to see all the animals while the sun goes down.
Afternoon tickets are only available online and must be booked in advance to claim the £10 offer.
Tickets can only be purchased online before 4pm on the day of your visit, and standard admission tickets can be purchased from our ticket office at the main entrance.
Find out more and book your £10 tickets online here.
Daisy Jackson -
17th April 2024 
