Neighbours describe desperate attempts to save care worker from 4am house fire

Residents have described the desperate attempts to save 'the best neighbour ever' from a devastating 4am house fire.

Andy Pickwell, a care worker in his 50s, died in the fire at his home in Wigan during the early hours of Saturday. Neighbours have told how they tried to enter his home but were forced back by plumes of thick black smoke.

As an investigation into the cause of the fire continued, today (Sunday), residents paid moving tributes to Mr Pickwell, who was a respected care worker who looked after adults with learning disabilities and who loved to build and maintain bicycles.

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He lived alone at the semi-detached property on Newstead Road in Goose Green, Wigan, with his pet cat, Limpy, who survived the fire.

One resident, who declined to be named, said: "We were awake with the baby and we heard a banging noise and I thought it was glass shattering. We thought someone was being burgled.

"I looked outside and saw this black smoke. Me and other neighbours tried to get in through the front door but the smoke was too thick. He always left the door unlocked. Then we climbed onto the flat roof and tried banging on his bedroom window."

He described how he and other neighbours then helped evacuate another neighbour, also a carer, and a teenage boy with mobility difficulties from the next-door property.

His partner added: "It was more-or-less then that the fire engines came. They were here really quickly."

She said at first she suspected Mr Pickwell could not have been at home and she sent him a message saying: "Your house is on fire. Are you safe?"

Another resident said: "He was a lovely man. He would do anything for anybody. I knew his mum. He was the best