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| NEWS | BY RICHARD OSLEY |
 Ushi’s burned out flat in Sumatra Road. Inset: Mrs Bahler |
Friends of Ursula Bahler, 63, who slept on the doorstep of her former home in Sumatra Road in protest at its sale to property developers, are refusing to accept that the raging fire in the early hours of Thursday was an accident. Several believe the blaze was an arson attack. Mrs Bahler – affectionately known as Ushi – died in the basement flat of a neighbour’s house last month. It marked the end of her desperate fight for the house, which, although had been her home for 37 years, was sold without her knowledge in 2000 by two of her step-daughters. She was evicted amidst a legal feud centring around a handwritten will left by Mrs Bahler’s husband Alex Olandeinde, who died in 1983. Fire investigators say the blaze at the disputed property was sparked by a candle, part of a shrine to Mrs Bahler assembled by mourners in the front garden. They ruled out any further investigation into the fire. Neil Goodman, leading firefighter at West Hampstead fire station, said: “It was a large fire. There had been a vigil with candles for a resident who used to live in the house but had passed away. One of them caught fire to rubbish in the front garden and the basement flat and the house became engulfed in flames. There was no question of foul play and there will be no further investigation.” Many of Mrs Bahler’s possessions including clothes and shoes, strewn across a small staircase at the front of the house, were burned in the fire. But the decision not to investigate has done little to quell speculation amongst Sumatra Road residents, who are still waiting for an inquest to establish the precise circumstances of the Swiss-born woman’s death. On Thursday, stunned mourners were staring in disbelief at the gutted skeleton of the house. Several were suspicious of the timing of the fire which was just days after Mrs Bahler was buried in a west London cemetery. Lionel Haig, a neighbour of Mrs Bahler, who lives a few doors away, said: “It is all very strange because the building went up so quickly. It must have been dry inside the house but it was still very quick.” Another friend, Erdal Kemal, added: “I’m gobsmacked.This is such a sad thing to happen. Speculation is very dangerous, people have said that Ushi’s spirit is in the house. All I know was that over 37 years she lived there and in the time since that house still meant so much to Ushi.” |
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