Heysham explosion: Cut gas pipe caused fatal blast, say police

George Hinds died in the blast

An explosion that killed a child was caused by a gas pipe being cut inside a neighbouring house, police said.

Two-year-old George Hinds died in the blast in Mallowdale Avenue in Heysham, Lancashire, on 16 May.

Four other people were also hurt in the explosion which destroyed two homes and seriously damaged a third.

Lancashire Police said it was investigating how and why the pipe became severed and treating it as a criminal investigation.

Two houses collapsed and a third was seriously damaged in the blast

Detectives said they had identified, along with gas experts, the cause of the explosion as a cut gas pipe inside a property on Mallowdale Avenue.

George's parents, Vicky Studholme and Stephen Hinds, who were also injured in the explosion, have been discharged from hospital, police said.

Two others, a man, 44, and a 50-year-old woman, remain in hospital with critical injuries.

Cadent North West had said earlier the gas mains and service pipes were "sound and did not contribute to or cause the explosion at Heysham".

Det Ch Insp Jane Webb, of Lancashire Police, said "an incredible amount of work" had been done at the scene "in a relatively short space of time" and officers had been able to identify the source.

"We have also managed to recover some items of George's, which I know means a lot to his parents," she said.

She said the focus was now on establishing how and why the pipe came to be cut and that investigation would be "complex and lengthy".

Forensic examination of the scene had been completed, the force said, and it had been handed over to the local authority.

The blast caused debris to cover nearby streets and fields and residents described it as sounding "like a bomb going off".

George was described as a "beautiful little angel" by his parents who said they were devastated by his death.

"He was so precious to us," they added.