A PENSIONER found dead after a fire in his home blew out the windows and doors and lifted the roof off is believed to have deliberately started the blaze himself.

Alec Yates, who lived alone in his two-storey semi-detached house on the corner of Hetherington Close and Chapel Road in Kempsey, was inside the property when it exploded, shattering windows and sending flames billowing out of the roof.

It is believed the 68 or 69-year-old, whose wife lives elsewhere, shut all the doors and windows before dousing the house in petrol and lighting a match. The vapours from the fuel then built up inside, causing the explosion.

Four fire engines, several ambulances and more than a dozen police attended the scene shortly after 1.15pm on Friday.

A post mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist yesterday and an inquest is due to be opened shortly.

A spokesman from Hereford and Worcester Fire Service said all their investigations into the cause of the fire had now finished and that it was now in the hands of the police and the coroner.

A police spokesman could not confirm the cause of the fire and said investigations were ongoing.