Man arrested over empty pub fire

Firefighters at the boarded-up Fox & Hounds pub in Oxford

A man in his 50s has been arrested over a fire in a derelict Oxford pub.

Smoke was seen billowing from the former Fox and Hounds pub in Abingdon Road, South Oxford, on Thursday evening.

It is thought squatters had been staying in the pub at the time, but the fire service found it empty when they searched the building.

A joint investigation between the fire service and police is trying to determine the cause.

Pete Cleary, incident commander for the fire service, said: "It is a derelict building with no electricity supply and no ignition sources so it is being treated as suspicious at the moment.

"Police have received intelligence that homeless people may have been staying inside illegally.

"Our fire crews worked extremely hard in hot and dangerous conditions to extinguish the fire and search for anyone trapped in the building. Thankfully nobody was inside."