Boy, 6, dies in blaze after refusing to leap to safety

Neighbours raced to the blaze when the alarm was raised and placed a mattress underneath a bedroom window where the family were trapped.

However, while his mother, Laura Davidson and his older sister, Chloe, managed to leap from the window to the mattress below, Aiden Owens, 6, refused to jump. One neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said: "We saw them at the bedroom window screaming.

"By the time the fire brigade arrived we had put a mattress on the ground for them to jump out of the bedroom.

"The roof was well ablaze by this point.

"The mother and daughter jumped, but the wee boy was still in the house. We last saw him in the bedroom, but he wouldn't jump."

The tragedy unfolded in the early hours of Sunday morning when a fire ripped though the house at Cromarty Drive in Milton, near Invergordon,

Neighbours tried to rescue the family from the house but were prevented by the intensity of the flames and smoke. One man who lives just a few doors away said: "There was no chance for the wee lad. It is tragic."

It was thought that Aiden's older brother, Dylan, was staying with his grandmother in Alness.

Last night police recovered remains from the kitchen, below the bedroom where Aiden was last seen. All the internal floorings had collapsed.

The Northern Constabulary confirmed remains of a body were found within the house.

A spokeswoman said: "We believe them to be of the six-year-old boy."

Aiden's grandmother, Isabel, last night released a statement on behalf of the family which said: "Aiden was a wonderful wee boy who was very special to us all and who was loved by everybody that knew him.

"The family respectfully request that they be left alone to grieve at this very difficult time."

Meanwhile, police criticised the length of time it took a fire brigade to respond to the fatal blaze.

Northern Constabulary Inspector David Greenlees yesterday took the unusual step of highlighting how long it took Highlands and Island Fire Brigade to turn up to the emergency.

"There was some frustration at the start because of the time taken for the emergency services to get there, with police arriving five or six minutes after the call and fire and ambulance about 15 minutes," he said.

However, a spokeswoman from Highlands and Islands Fire brigade last night said: "We got the call at 2:26am, we mobilised crews from Tain and Invergordon by 2:30am and were at the fire, which was several miles away from both stations, by 2:39am."