Two senior fire officers have been found not guilty of the manslaughter of four colleagues who died tackling a blaze at a Warwickshire warehouse.

Incident commanders Timothy Woodward, 51, and Adrian Ashley, 45, were charged after the Atherstone-On-Stour fire.

Warwickshire's chief fire officer condemned the decision to press criminal charges against them.

Firefighters John Averis, Ashley Stephens, Darren Yates-Badley and Ian Reid died as a result of the 2007 blaze.

Mr Woodward and Mr Ashley had denied manslaughter by gross negligence at Stafford Crown Court. 

Fire service officer Paul Simmons, 50, was acquitted five weeks into his trial on the judge's direction.

The jury took just over seven hours to acquit Mr Woodward, station manager, and Mr Ashley, watch manager, after hearing six weeks of evidence about the deaths of the four firefighters.

You can read more about this case in the following articles:

Daily Mail - 'Treated like common criminals': Fire chief slams decision to charge colleagues after pair are cleared of manslaughter following warehouse blaze

The Guardian - Fire service watch manager cleared of firefigher deaths

Sky News - Two Firefighters Cleared Over Blaze Deaths

BBC News - Fire officers cleared over Atherstone warehouse deaths