Man charged over stabbed blaze victim

Police broke through the doors of the house

A 25-year-old-man has been charged with attempted murder, theft, and arson with intent to endanger life after a man was left to die in a blazing house in south east Wales.

The charges come after Martin Lewis, 41, was found repeatedly stabbed in his burning home in Newport in the early hours of Friday morning.

Specialist teams arrive to examine the scene

He remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Cardiff.

The man who has been charged will appear before Cwmbran Magistrates Court on Monday.

Firefighters and police officers launched a joint investigation into the blaze in the Crindau area of Newport.

Police with tracker dogs arrested a 25-year-old man close to the scene about 40 minutes after the alarm was raised.

Residents of Glasswork Cottages told how they heard a commotion in the early hours and called the emergency services when they saw smoke pouring from the windows.

Three police officers broke through the door and rescued the man inside who had already been attacked with a knife.

'Quiet and friendly'

"We are treating the incident as an attempted murder and we currently have a 25-year-old local man in custody," said Gwent Police Chief Inspector Carl Close.

Neighbours have described the 41-year-old who had lived in the house for the past 15 years, as "quiet and friendly" and had recently split up with his partner.

"Everybody's just in shock," said neighbour Linda Henderson.

Officer Flannagan: Different seats of fire

Another neighbour Elizabeth Blair said she had known the injured man for years.

"He seemed to be a nice boy," she said.

"He used to stop and speak to me. I thought he was alright."

Scenes of crimes officers and a special investigation team conducted a detailed search of the house to establish how the fire started.

"We had to fight fires within the building from more than one location," explained Assistant Divisional Officer Michael Flannagan.

"Why that is, we've yet to investigate. But we know we've got some work to do on this incident."