Blast: Police launch murder probe

May 8 2008

Detectives are investigating whether a man found dead after a massive explosion ripped through four homes was murdered.

Officers believe the blast may have been sparked deliberately leaving two other people suffering serious injuries.

The explosion demolished three terraced properties in Stanley Road, south Harrow, north-west London at about 9.30pm on Wednesday night.

Shocked neighbours spoke of how they dug through smoking rubble with their bare hands after a huge bang shook their homes.

Gravedigger Andrew Haynes, 44, said it took at least 15 minutes to pull a 17-year-old girl from one property that had been split into two flats.

Emergency services are working to make the remains of the properties safe before removing the body of the dead man.

Firefighters rescued two other people from the rubble and initially feared others may also be trapped.

A 26-year-old man suffering from serious head injuries was taken to Northwick Park hospital in north-west London.

The 17-year-old girl, named locally as Charlotte, was taken to Chelsea and Westminster hospital with severe burns.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the cause of the explosion had "yet to be established". Detectives from the Specialist Crime Directorate, responsible for the capital's most serious criminal cases, are investigating.