The fire engine responding to a fatal blaze that killed a retired man in Roehampton missed its six minute target time, it has been revealed.

Arthur Edwards, also known as Richard and Ricky, died in his home on April 19 after a fire broke out.

Wandsworth fire station sent the first engine, but it took seven minutes and 10 seconds to arrive, a second got there eight minutes and 32 seconds.

April 19: Death of "good man" Arthur Edwards dealt "bad hand in life" marked by former colleagues after Roehampton fire

The station in Wandsworth had its second engine removed in 2013 and the decision was taken to make this a permanent reduction to help with budget cuts in March of this year.

Research published by Lancaster University links the complete closure of stations across the capital with an increase in missed response times.

Paul Embery, regional secretary of the FBU in London, said: "These stats support what our firefighters are experiencing on the frontline. Firefighters are attending fatal emergencies knowing that if they could have got there in the time target, they may have been able to save lives.

"We warned at the time that the decision to close the ten fire stations would result in deaths. Sadly, those warnings were dismissed and as a result lives have been lost.

"These damning statistics show the need for urgent action by the new mayor Sadiq Khan and the LFB."

Statistician Dr Benjamin Taylor analysed data from call outs to more than 24,000 fires in the capitals.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Our thoughts are with the man’s friends and family. It is disappointing that the FBU have gone out with information before checking all the facts.

"A call was received to Bessborough Road without the additional detail of Dilton Gardens. As a result, it took crews longer to find the correct address which meant that the first fire engine attendance time was 7 minutes and 10 seconds.

"We will always get to incidents as quickly as possible. Our attendance time target is an average and we meet our London wide performance target of 6 minutes for the first fire engine and 8 minutes for a second fire engine.

"The fire is subject to a police investigation and an inquest will take place in due course so it is inappropriate to comment further at this stage."