More arrests expected as Irish police close net on gang that murdered Waterford family over €20,000 drug debt

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly says further arrests are imminent after a man in his 20s, recently released from prison for burglary and believed to be a hired hand for a Traveller gang, and a woman in her 30s were detained over the petrol bomb attack that killed Philip and Kim English and their sons Callum, 12, and Jayden, 9, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Kelly described the murders as "an absolutely horrendous crime" and said seven properties have been searched with vehicles and phones seized. Two surviving children, Nadia, 14, and Elliot, 6, remain in a critical condition at Children's Health Ireland in Crumlin. Gardaí have secured CCTV footage of a vehicle believed to have been used in the attack.

Philip English's adult son John James English said the family were entirely innocent: 'Twenty grand worth of a debt — is that worth [four] lives?'

The family had already been targeted last month when their home was petrol-bombed, and gardaí believe a gang headed by three brothers contracted the suspect to carry out the fatal attack.

The suspected female getaway driver may have used her own car, with gardaí having issued alerts to patrol officers to watch for the vehicle.