Man released with no further action as murder inquiry continues into fatal Middlesbrough house fire
A 31-year-old man arrested over a house fire that killed a seven-year-old girl and her aunt has been released with no further action, Cleveland Police said.
Detectives are continuing to question a second man, aged 23, in connection with the alleged attack. Both men were arrested on suspicion of murder after the blaze at a property on Birchington Avenue in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, on Wednesday 26 August.
Valentina Foster, seven, and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died in the fire. Four other people were injured, including a 48-year-old woman who remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition and a 27-year-old man receiving treatment at James Cook University Hospital. Two teenage girls have since been discharged.
Emergency services were called to the property at about 5.23am. Police have said the building remains unstable and work is being carried out to make the scene safe while forensic and investigative activity continues.
The force has urged the public not to speculate about the circumstances of the deaths. Cleveland Police said it was not currently linking the fire to a fatal collision on the A66 several days earlier, in which seven people, including two police officers, died.
