A fatal house fire which claimed the life of a Maidstone businessman,who had previously been jailed for smuggling explosives onto a plane, is believed to have started accidentally in his kitchen.

Manohar Chandnani was found dead at his Woodland Close, Penenden Heath home in the early hours of Saturday, October 18.

At the opening of the inquest into his death, evidence was given by coroner's officer Chris Kemsley regarding the initial police and fire investigation.

Mr Kemsley told how the fire was originally believed to be suspicious and that blood was found around Mr Chandnani's home.

He also described how the body, which was found in the kitchen, was difficult to identify and that a forensic post mortem had been carried out.

Mr Chandnani was eventually identified by scars on his back, believed to have been caused during his childhood.

Mr Kemsley told the inquest that the preliminary investigation by Kent Fire and Rescue Service had shown there were no flammable materials in the kitchen and that an electrical fault was highly unlikely to have been the cause of the fire.

The investigation detailed how the worktop nearest the hob was completely consumed by fire and concluded the probable cause was food in a pan igniting.

Mid Kent and Medway coroner Roger Sykes said he had been contacted by police who informed him they were no longer treating the fire as suspicious.

The blood found at the scene is being tested to see if it was Mr Chandnani's.

Mr Chandnani was jailed in 2006, when he was 54, for endangering an aircraft and causing dangerous chemicals, which were banned from being transported and from being taken into Iran, to be carried on a British Airways plane to Tehran.

The materials, methylhydrazine, phosphorous oxychloride and thionyl chloride, were packed into an ordinary cardboard box with no labelling or accurate documentation and flown on a 747, putting the lives of all 163 passengers and 17 crew at risk.

Maidstone Crown Court was told that had the chemicals released any gases during the flight they would have circulated throughout the whole aircraft with lethal effect within a matter of hours. There was also a risk of explosion.

At the time Mr Chandnani claimed he had not realised the chemicals were prohibited from aircraft.

Mr Chandnani, who is believed to have three children, ran Headcorn business Scott Science which manufacturers and exports laboratory and health care products.

He was at home alone at the time of the blaze.

His wife Liz, from whom he was separated, owns Krishna Indian Restaurant,High Street, Headcorn.

Family friend Meeta Jethwa, of Woodland Close, said she was shocked and saddened by Mr Chandnani's death.

"He was such a nice man," she said. "He was always very helpful and if anyone needed anything he would be there.

"He was the same person when he came out of prison. He was just so nice."

Four fire crews from Maidstone and Larkfield were called to the blaze, which broke out on the ground floor of the property in the quiet cul-de-sac at about 1.23am.

The area around the property, and small grassed area at the centre of the cul-de-sac, was cordoned off as forensic officers worked at the scene.

Ron Nicholson, 75, of Woodland Close, whose son Colin and family live in the house next door to Mr Chandnani's, said all the neighbours had been out in the road before the fire brigade arrived.

His son had tried to hold back the fire using a hosepipe.

Mr Chandnani's family declined to issue a statement.

The inquest was adjourned.