A WOMAN found dead in a house fire suffered stab wounds.

The body of Mahnaz Rafie, aged 48, was found along with the body of her husband Hassan Rafie, aged 49, in the kitchen of their home in Albert Road West, Heaton in the early hours of Monday morning.

Firefighters were called to a house fire just before 2.20am. They made the grim discovery and rescued Dolleh Joseph, aged 74, Ms Rafie’s mother, from an upstairs bedroom. Attempts were made to resuscitate her but she was pronounced dead at hospital. A post mortem examination found she died from smoke inhalation and burns.

Post mortem examinations of Mr and Mrs Rafie found Mrs Rafie died as result of stab wounds and Mr Rafie due to smoke inhalation and burns.

The couple’s sons, Dr Ommid Rafie and Arash Rafie have paid tribute to their parents.

They said: “We are deeply saddened and heartbroken by the tragic loss of our family. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all services involved for their bravery and dedication and also our neighbours for their patience.

“Our parents would next week have been celebrating 25 years of marriage through which they worked together through the greatest difficulties to build a successful life from scratch. They were loved by all that knew them. Our father, a successful architect and businessman, was extremely respected in the community, he took many people under his wings and took the world’s problems on his shoulders.

“Our mother, our best friend, our angel, was an extremely strong lady who was deeply and sincerely loved by all. Despite her heart condition she dedicated her life to her family. This year we finally persuaded her to do something for herself and ultimately she decided to pursue a career in Law. She remained strong throughout the course, as she had done throughout life, despite our kind, loving grandma being diagnosed with terminal cancer little under two weeks ago.

“Ultimately we have been able to keep strong throughout this tragedy, but only because of the immense and unconditional love and support of our dear friends to whom we are forever grateful. Myself as a doctor, and my brother as a soon to be qualified doctor are privileged in that we will use this devastating experience to move forward and help those around us in society and will continue to live by the strong principles by which we were brought up.”

The blaze was parked by a gas supply in the kitchen that was tampered with. The deaths are being investigated by a Bolton coroner.

Det Ch Insp Phil Reade, said: "Our thoughts remain with family members who have been devastated by what has happened.

“Specialist officers are keeping them updated with our investigation and continuing to support them as best they can.

“Our investigations are continuing on behalf of the coroner and we are now satisfied that we are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident.”