A hero who pulled a teenager from a burning flat has spoken of his sadness that he could not save her mother.

Martin Barrio, along with two friends, bravely burst into the flat engulfed in smoke and flames in Petrel Court, Croxted Road, in the small hours of Saturday, November 15.

He pulled the 15-year-old to safety but was beaten back by the heat as he tried to break into the bedroom where Natasha Mullings, 35, was trapped.

Ms Mullings, a primary school teacher, was found in her bedroom moments later by firefighters but declared dead at the scene.

Mr Barrio said: “I have played it all back in my head, wondering if I could have done more.”

He added: “It was unbelievably hot and you could not see your hand in front of your face. The glass above her door was glowing from the flames.

“I tried to open the door with a wet tea-towel but it was so hot I just could not do it. We were coughing and spluttering from the smoke so hard we were sick.

“Then firefighters arrived and shouted for us to get out so we did.”

Mr Barrio, a maths teacher, had been playing cards with friends at about 2.30am when a neighbour banged on his door to tell him the flat above his was on fire and he should evacuate.

But instead the fearless 39-year-old ran upstairs with friends David Rogers, 36, from Herne Hill, and Jeremy Halsey, 32, from Tulse Hill.

They had tried to smash the locked front door with a table before Ms Mullings’ boyfriend returned to unlock it.

“We could hear knocking from the other side of the door and we were shouting: ‘We are trying, we are trying.’”

Mr Barrio said he struggled to sleep in the nights afterwards. He was thanked by Ms Mullings’ parents for his actions, but he says he does not see himself as a hero.

A neighbour called for the men to be commended for their bravery.

Flowers and tributes have been left at the scene.

One tribute- believed to be from Ms Mulling’s boyfriend - said: “I feel like a part of me has been taken away. Why God decided to take you into his bosom, only he knows. You made my life so happy..... You are the love of my life and always will be.”

  • Did you know Natasha Mullings? Leave your tributes in the comments section below.