Man arrested in explosion that killed tot

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SHAW, England, June 27 (UPI) -- A 32-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of a 2-year-old boy in an explosion that destroyed four houses in Britain.

The explosion occurred Tuesday in Shaw, Oldham, in Greater Manchester, killing Jamie Heaton, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Jamie had been watching TV in one of the houses that was destroyed while his mother, Michelle Heaton, 28, was in the back yard.

The National Grid said there had been no gas leak from an external pipe.

The Telegraph said the explosion was believed to have originated at the house of the Heatons' neighbor, Andrew Partington, 27, and the mother tried to rescue her son from the rubble.

Partington suffered 20 percent burns in the explosion and was under sedation at a hospital Tuesday.

The Telegraph said he lived at the house with his partner, Tanya Williams, and five children. Officers planned to speak to him when he awakes.

Michelle Heaton lived at the family's house with her husband, Kenny, 29, and their three children.

Steve Heywood, assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: "We have had some information to suggest [the explosion] may not be accidental so we are treating it as a suspicious death and therefore a homicide investigation is undertaken.

"One of the early indications was that it may not have been an accident; therefore, we will always then up the ante and treat it as a suspicious-death inquiry.

"There might have been some precursor event, like a domestic incident. All those things are still in our thinking at this time."