A team of 13 police officers is still investigating a Perth hotel fire that killed three people nearly a year ago.
Sisters Donna Janse Van Rensburg, 44, and Sharon McLean, 47, from Aberdeen, and 38-year-old Keith Russell, from Edinburgh, died in the blaze at the New County Hotel on January 2.
Donna’s dog, Joey, also perished in the blaze.
The Courier can now reveal that 13 officers remain dedicated to investigating the cause of the blaze.
195 witnesses spoken to by police after New County Hotel fire
We can also reveal after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that 195 witnesses have been spoken to by officers as part of their probe.
But Police Scotland has declined to provide any further details on its investigation – including the cause of the fire and whether anyone has been interviewed under caution over the incident.
The force said it could not even confirm whether it held this information in order to protect the “integrity of the investigation”.
The FOI response added: “I appreciate that there is a public interest in relation to police investigations.
“That said, it is essential that neither the investigation nor the potential for proceedings to be brought against an individual are put at risk.”
Police have never confirmed whether they are treating the blaze as deliberate.
The sole director of the company that owned the hotel, Rashid Hussain, died in St Mary’s Hospital in London on August 12.
It came after the firm that ran the hotel, Perth Hospitality Ltd, was liquidated.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has also refused to release a copy of its report into the blaze as the one-year anniversary approaches.
Tragedy may be subject of fatal accident inquiry
An FOI response from the service said: “You will appreciate that such an incident, by its very nature, inevitably gives rise to further inquiry and the nature, cause and circumstances of these deaths may be the subject of a fatal accident inquiry.
“The information which we hold may be relevant to these proceedings and cannot be disclosed.”
The Courier previously revealed how official bodies had raised a series of concerns just weeks before the New County Hotel fire.
This included a safety audit by the fire service, during which the hotel’s operator was asked to make 21 improvements in the building.
Perth and Kinross Council also raised its own safety concerns.
