A man has admitted causing an explosion that left him and another resident seriously injured and caused more than £1 million worth of damage.
A residential street was left looking like a bomb had gone off after Ian Lenaghan cut a gas cooker hose multiple times in his first floor flat on Whickham Street, Roker, Sunderland, on February 15. Lenaghan, 59, was one of two people taken to hospital with serious injuries as a result of the blast which destroyed one property and substantially damaged several others.
An investigation into the cause of the explosion was subsequently carried out with police supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Tyne & Wear Fire & Rescue Service. They found that a gas cooker hose had been cut multiple times with a sharp metal object prior to the blast, which occurred at 3.45pm.
