TWO men appeared in court accused of being involved in the alleged murders of a mother and her young son.

Gina Ingles, 34, and four-year-old Milo Ingles-Bailey died in a blaze at Croxden Way, Eastbourne, in July 2018.

Flames engulfed the property in the residential street.

Ms Ingles’ partner Toby Jarrett was also in the house but managed to escape. He suffered serious injuries and burns, but was later released from hospital.

Police crime scene investigators arrived at the property the morning after while detectives launched Operation Druffield, a murder inquiry.

At the scene one onlooker said they saw the bathroom window shatter and flames burst through, setting fire to a nearby tree.

They said there was “nothing anyone could have done” to help and described the fire as “horrendous and horrible”.

Firefighters battled the flames for hours, and were seen in talks with detectives to establish the cause of the fire.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “We were woken up by our neighbours at 12.50am.

“They were shouting ‘fire’ and saying ‘get the fire brigade’. I looked out of the window and saw flames coming out of the front door.

“It was like an inferno of flames coming out of the front door and window. The bathroom window exploded and that set the tree in front of the house on fire.

“Before you knew it, the roof was on fire. Then you could see the flames coming out of the back of the house. It was horrendous, horrible. We couldn’t get in but we didn’t hear or see anyone inside, we didn’t know there was anyone in there.”

Last week Andrew Milne, 42, of Hastings, appeared before Lewes Crown Court accused of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

He entered a not guilty plea to the charges, and will face trial.

Meanwhile John Tabakis, 30, also of Hastings, appeared before Lewes Crown Court, charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. He also denied the charge, and will face trial.