A husband was being questioned last night on suspicion of murdering his wife after she was found dead in their blazing home.

Alan Jermey, 40, was arrested after he and his two young daughters were rescued from the house.

The body of Kirsty Wilson, 34, was discovered as flames swept through the family’s £450,000 detached home.

One of the first people on the scene, who did not want to be named, said they believed she had been dead for up to six hours before the inferno began.

It was revealed later that a sniffer dog detected traces of a substance used to start the fire.

Firefighters saved Mr Jermey and children Alicia, eight, and Polly, two.

All three needed hospital treatment for breathing smoke and were then discharged.

Mr Jermey, who was arrested immediately, had dialled 999 shortly before midnight to report a fire.

He and the girls climbed out of a window on to a flat roof beside the house in the commuter town of Woking, Surrey.

A mum living nearby said: “Kirsty was really nice. This is such a tragedy, I can’t believe it.”

The children were being cared for by relatives.