A dad and his 10-year-old daughter were killed in an “accidental” caravan fire near Skegness, a tragic investigation has found. Lincolnshire Police officers were called to the fire at a privately owned caravan within the Golden Beach Holiday Park in Roman Bank, Ingoldmells, at 3.53am on Saturday.
On Sunday, the victims were named as Lee Baker, 48, and his daughter Esme Baker, 10, both from the Nottingham area.
In a statement, Lincolnshire Police said: “We are today (Tuesday 8 April) able to share the findings of our Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue colleagues, now that their investigations are complete. Following the fire that tragically claimed the lives of two people, Lee Baker, 48, and Esme Baker, 10, the cause has been determined as accidental. As is standard practice, Lincolnshire Police are still investigating the circumstances in order to prepare a file for the coroner.”
Tributes were paid to the dad and daughter who were described as “two peas in a pod” and were “both happy go people who loved life.” A GoFundMe has been set up in their honour following the tragic deaths.
It states in full: “Unfortunately on the morning of the 05/04/2025 a fire broke out taking the lives of both Father Lee and Daughter Esme, just ten years old at their holiday home within Ingoldmells, Skegness.
“Lee and Esme were two peas in a pod, both happy go lucky people who loved life. They were and forever remain adored by Genette, his oldest daughter Paige and anyone who had the pleasure of meeting them. Flowers are being laid the morning of 06/04/2025 beside The Sandancer, PE251LW and anyone is welcome to contribute to this.
“A charity night is to be later announced to celebrate the life of these two individuals sadly lost far too early. Information to be announced at a later date, to which anyone is welcome. All contributions are being paid to Lee and Esme’s family.”
A member of Lee and Esme’s family called the loss “utterly heartbreaking”, they said: “Lee and Esme were excited to be spending the first weekend of the holidays together. We are all utterly devastated at what’s happened.
“This loss is incomprehensible at the moment, and we ask for people to give us space to process this utterly heartbreaking loss.”
The owners of the holiday park expressed their “deepest sympathies” to the victims’ families.
They said in a statement: “On behalf of everyone at Golden Beach Holiday Park we would like to send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families and friends affected by today’s tragic events.
“We would like to thank all the emergency services for their help and continued support. We ask for patience and privacy whilst they carry out their investigations.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.