A PUB owner was today being questioned by police over a blaze and explosion at the Old Locomotive in Canterbury in which a man died.

The pub, in Station Road West, as reduced to rubble in the blast and inferno which engulfed it on Sunday night.

A two-day search through the debris uncovered the body of a man, believed to be father-of-five Derek Drury, a taxi driver, from Whitstable.

Det Insp Tim Smith, leading the investigation into the fire, confirmed pub owner Keith Willoughby had been arrested under suspicion of arson.

DI Smith said: “The situation is that we have finished searching the site and recovered the body of a deceased male. He has yet to be positively identified. However, we are treating it as suspicious and a man is in custody."

Mr Willoughby suffered minor injuries in Sunday's incident and was taken to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital wqhere he was kept for observation until today when he was taken to the police station under arrest.