Beauty queen burnt in house fire

Press, 5 September 1987, Page 3

Beauty queen burnt in house fire

PA Auckland A family row went tragically wrong yesterday when a Te Atatu home was deliberately set on fire, leaving a man and his wife dead and two others with burns, according to the police. The dead man was Hans Hugo John Nehls, aged 50. The dead woman was Fane Malina Nehls. The Glendane Avenue home belonged to a former “Miss Universe New Zealand,” Tanya Clague, aged 21, and her brother, Michael, aged 20.

Miss Clague escaped from the burning home with only superficial burns, but her brother is critically ill in the Middlemore Hospital burns unit.

The police say Miss Clague’s mother and stepfather had quarrelled before the fire on Thursday morning. Hendersons police chief, Mr Ross Dallow, said Miss Ciague’s stepfather, Mr Nehls, had got hold of an accelerant at some stage during the argument, doused the room which they were all in,

and set it alight Fire officers said the accelerant vapour must have ignited immediately and Mr Nehls was probably instantly engulfed in flames. Mrs Nehls died in hospital after being admitted with burns. At this stage Miss Clague ran into the room from an adjacent bedroom and tried to put out the fire, dragging both her mother and brother clear of the blaze, the police said. She rolled her brother in wet grass outside the house to put out the

The blaze spread quickly. There was extensive damage to the home, which family friends say had been left to Miss Clague and her brother by their father, who died several years ago. A neighbour, Miss Margaret Angus, who has known the family for more than 20 years, said she had spoken to Mrs Nehls, known as Lin, only recently. "Everything seemed to be on an even keel,” she said, “She told me how happy she was with her husband.”