Rainham man appeals for help finding police officer who saved him from burning house in East Ham

A man from Rainham is looking for a police officer who saved him from a house fire in East Ham more than 30 years ago.

Tony Varghese was three-years-old in 1986 when a fire broke out at his grandfather’s house as the family were sleeping.

The blaze was caused by someone throwing a milk bottle containing petrol through the front window of the property, in Burges Road.

Off-duty police officer William Manners spotted the fire and started banging on the door to see if anyone was inside.

That woke Tony’s grandfather up and Pc Manners rushed into the house to save the children.

Tony, who now lives in Rainham, decided to try and find PC Manners after coming across the original newspaper article following the death of his grandmother.

He told Time 107.5 he hadn’t known the officer’s name before seeing the article.

Tony said: “As soon as I saw his name there was something in me that wanted to say thanks.

“For him it might have just been another day on the job but he didn’t have to go into a house on fire. His first thoughts were ‘there’s kids in there, gotta get them out.’

“He went beyond the call of duty for me and my sister and I just want to say thanks.”