Derrylin house fire: Chilling murder of three generations

Inside the small, three-bedroom house, his partner and her family lay dead in their beds — Denise Gossett, who was 45, her 16-year-old son Roman and 19-year-old daughter Sabrina and Sabrina’s 15-month-old daughter Morgana Quinn.

Neighbours rushed to the scene. The open front door revealed billowing smoke and flames, and amid the chaos stood Allen with hands raised high, desperately pleading: “Don’t go in there.”

As concerned neighbours questioned him about the occupants, Allen’s haunting response echoed, “They’re gone, they’re gone”.

Morgana Quinn, Sabrina Gossett, Roman Gossett, and Denise Gossett.

Despite the courageous attempts of several residents to enter the engulfed house, their efforts were thwarted by the relentless onslaught of flames and thick smoke.

By the time firefighters arrived, the house was already consumed by the relentless blaze, the roof collapsing in a fiery spectacle. The valiant fire crew, aware that people were inside, faced a grim reality. The magnitude of the devastation became undeniable. No one could have survived.

READ MORE: Man who killed three generations of family has ‘disturbing part of make-up’

In one of the bedrooms, a badly burned body – while the remains of others were tragically noted in other bedrooms, further underscoring the horrific toll of the fire. As the police arrived on the harrowing scene, they found Allen, his face blackened by smoke, and traces of blood stained across his clothing, still standing at the front door, his anguished cries filling the air.

Allen, claiming to be a paranoid schizophrenic, confessed, “I’m sorry... I started the fire. A promise is a promise,” he repeated, explaining that he had vowed to usher the victims into the next life – including by strangling Denis – asserting they no longer wished to remain in this world.

After receiving treatment for smoke inhalation in a hospital, Allen found himself in custody, arrested for a crime that left the close-knit Border community in shock. The following day, specialised officers ventured into the ravaged property, recovering the remains of Sabrina and baby Morgana on the same bed, while Roman lay face up in another bedroom, and Denise was handcuffed to a double bed.

Throughout the house, the eerie presence of strips of fabric soaked in heating oil and the ominous sight of a large kitchen knife in the hallway added to the sinister nature of the crime scene. The fire was fuelled from heating oil taken from the tank outside.

Denise’s post-mortem revealed soot staining in her lungs, a grim indication that she was alive when the fire began, tragically handcuffed to a bed, succumbing to the relentless onslaught of smoke inhalation as the flames engulfed the house. Meanwhile, Allen’s claim of strangling Sabrina lacked supporting evidence, leaving the actual cause of her death shrouded in mystery due to the extensive burns.

The cause of death for Roman and baby Morgana was caused by GHB poisoning, confirming that the pair perished before the inferno took hold.

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Crucially, Allen emerged from the catastrophic event unscathed, prompting Mr. Justice O’Hara to express his curiosity at a hearing in Belfast last week, stating: “It’s curious. One person doesn’t escape at all, and the other person escapes pretty much entirely uninjured.”

Delving into the family’s background, prosecutor Mr. McDowell painted a picture of an “itinerant” lifestyle, with the family relocating across England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland before settling in the Derrylin bungalow for 18 months before the tragic incident.

Allen met Denise in 2016 online through a shared interest in sexual activity involving the use of physical restraint and the granting and relinquishing of control.

He told a consultant psychiatrist they had regular sex using handcuffs and ropes.

Allen’s life took a dark turn when he disclosed to an American woman, whom he met online in December 2017, that his relationship with Denise had ended.

Communication with the American woman continued into January and February 2018, with the last contact occurring just two days before the fatal incident. During police interviews, Allen remained largely silent, but in a defence statement, he claimed involvement in a suicide pact with Denise and Sabrina. According to his account, he accused Sabrina of killing her own brother and daughter.

The revelations shed light on Allen’s past, including threats to kill a previous partner in England in 2015. Defence counsel Frank O’Donoghue KC painted a grim picture of Allen’s life, describing it as “chaotic” and deeply impacted by mental health issues, asserting that Allen lived in a “fantasy” rather than reality.

Daniel Allen attending Enniskillen Cout.

In 2018, he was remanded in Maghaberry Prison and for six months in 2020, he was transferred to Shannon Clinic in Belfast, an intensive psychiatric rehabilitation facility.

When first formally arraigned in 2020, Allen denied the charges as well as one count of arson endangering life.

A defence barrister would later confirm a consultant psychiatrist conducted an examination of Allen which “does not support diminished responsibility and we no longer have evidence to support that”.

During a subsequent hearing in 2022, Allen altered his plea, accepting the charges of manslaughter concerning two adult victims. As the legal proceedings advanced, the case was scheduled for a hearing in June of the same year, with a jury sworn in and preparations under way for a trial at Dungannon Crown Court in Craigavon. However, on the morning the trial was set to commence, Allen’s senior barrister requested a re-arraignment, introducing a pivotal moment in this case.

Allen confessed to the murders of Sabrina, Roman, and baby Morgana, while maintaining his stance regarding Denise, acknowledging her death as manslaughter by way of a suicide pact.

It has been accepted by the prosecution that it was more likely than not that she was engaged in the suicide pact with him. However, it will never be known as to what way Denise was involved.

Additionally, he admitted to charges of arson endangering life, signalling acknowledgement of the severity of his actions.

The prosecution counsel deemed the lesser plea in relation to Denise acceptable, setting the stage for a decision by Mr. Justice O’Hara. Addressing Allen directly, the presiding judge declared: “You have pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, and I sentence you to life imprisonment.”

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As the first journalist arriving at the scene that fateful morning, the vivid memories remain etched in my mind. The atmosphere was eerie, permeated by the lingering scent of smoke that hung heavy in the air, encapsulating the shock and gravity of

the situation.

Landlord Tommy Fee described seeing the killer arsonist looking like a “psychopath” in his “bare feet and screaming”.

Refusing to move away from the front door as the fire raged, Allen’s roars were lost in the crackling of the flames. The dishevelled figure stood less than a metre away from the fire he started.

“I was first on the scene, and all I could see was him standing outside the door with his back to me,” he said.

The bus driver and farmer had been sleeping in bed at his home less than a mile away when he received a call from a neighbour after 7am to inform him of the fire at the home he had been renting to the family. He jumped into

his 4x4.

He said: “I phoned the fire brigade on the way. I half expected when I got there to maybe see them all out of the house with blankets around them, but that wasn’t the case. Allen’s hands were in the air. He was shouting, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He was in his bare feet and looked like a psychopath.”

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There was a smell of burning plastic from the PVC windows. A short time later, the roof fell in, hampering any attempts to get inside.

“I tried to get him away from the house, but he wouldn’t budge,” recalled Mr. Fee.

Mr. Fee attempted to gain access to the house using a sledgehammer, but each time he peered through the blackened windows of each of the bedrooms, he could see and hear nothing.

One of the firefighters who attended the call-out saw the smoke and flames from the main street in Derrylin, hundreds of yards away.

When the emergency services arrived at the scene, they were met by a fire so intense the roof was crumbling. It was -4 degrees.

“It was one of the worst fires I have ever seen, and Allen just stood there in his bare feet,” the firefighter said.

“We tried to get him away from the house, but he was not listening.”

Eventually, PSNI officers had to physically remove him. Allen was treated by paramedics. Following an assessment, he was taken to hospital by ambulance, with a police patrol car following behind. He received medical attention under a police guard.

Snow fell as firefighters fought for hours to extinguish the blaze so rescuers could reach the dead. But the weather meant the bodies were not removed from the house until much later.

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SPECIALIST officers erected four white tents on a farmyard next to the fire. A chimney and part of the gable wall of the property were knocked down for safety reasons.

After the bodies were retrieved, they were taken down the snow-covered lane for post-mortem examination as neighbours looked on.

One of them was Maureen McGerty,

who watched the tragedy unfold from her kitchen window.

“I was washing the dishes after breakfast, and all I could see was the smoke from the window. I thought there was a bog on fire,” she said.

“Then I looked again, and it was a house. I couldn’t believe it.

“To think that a whole family was wiped out is hard to take in.

“I didn’t know them — not many did about here — but I would have seen them about.

“One of them would have sat on a wee chair on the Doon Road. They would have been very quiet.

“We knew that if there was someone inside, they would not have survived, such was the heat of the flames.”

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With the family living an almost secret life, nobody knew for sure if there was a baby inside that morning. It was only afterwards when Morgana’s cot was spotted in one of the rooms that they realised.

A week later, I spoke to the Gosset family after tracking them down in England – they spoke of their “immeasurable loss”.

James Dickens, who is married to Denise’s daughter Samantha, said the family were “heartbroken”.

“No matter how many thoughts and prayers there are and how much community support there is, we have lost four members of the family, we have lost three generations at once.”

Allen had claimed Denise had changed her surname to Gossett in order to avoid her ex-partner who had been threatening her.

Whether this was true or not it was accepted from 2017 she had been avoiding social workers and apart from her children who died in the fire, she had others who were in care.

They initially moved to Scotland, then County Kerry but Social Services became alert to an issue and they moved to County Cavan then onto Derrylin. Previously the court was told how the family had used the “well-beaten path”

to go from Great Britain to the Republic.

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It is understood social services from within the Western Health and Social Care Trust were involved with the family.

In February 2017, social services also became aware of their presence and “were on the verge of intervening”.

Those who lived in the area said the family stayed indoors mostly. They played computer games for hours each day and had shopping deliveries sent straight to the door. They rarely went outside. It was, according to sources, an “unhealthy home”, and social services were aware.

Some of their activities were unorthodox: Sabrina posted sexualised drawings of fairytale characters from Disney on social media alongside sketches inspired by her young daughter — and then sold them.

It was noted in court that Roman in particular “must have had a miserable life as he wasn’t attending school, was denied teenage companionship and shunted from one place to another.”

Initially handing down a term of 33 years, Judge O’Hare yesterday (Wednesday) reduced this to 29 years on the basis of Allen’s admissions, saving the necessity for a trial.

Taking account of time served on remand it will be 2047 before Allen may be considered for parole.

The house has since been knocked down and the hills in ‘Quinn Country’ now serve as a haunting backdrop to that bitterly cold morning when three generations of one family lost their lives.