Police question trio on suspicion of manslaughter after five die in Hinckley Road blast

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Three men in their 30s have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after five people were killed in an explosion in Leicester on Sunday.



Leicestershire police said the three men, from East Anglia, north-west England and the east Midlands, were being questioned by detectives.

“Whilst we will not disclose further details at this stage, we stress that there remains no evidence that the events of Sunday night are in any way terrorist related,” the force said.



The explosion happened at around 7pm on Hinckley Road, destroying the Polish supermarket Zabka and a two-storey home above it.

A search and recovery operation was continuing on Wednesday, however police have said they do not expect to find any survivors.

The remains of five people had been recovered from the wreckage but police said it could take some time before they were formally identified due to the scale of the destruction.

The missing people include Mary Ragoobeer, 46, and her two sons, Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, who lived in the flat above the destroyed shop.

Shane’s girlfriend, Leah Beth Reek, 18, and Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was working in the supermarket at the time of the explosion, are also missing.

Ragoobeer’s youngest son, Scotty, 15, was taken to hospital but his injuries were not serious, according to his uncle Krishna Rungen. Scotty’s father, Jose Ragoobeer, was at work at the time of the blast.

Another person who was taken to hospital after the explosion is in a critical but stable condition and four other people have since been discharged from hospital.

The Loros hospice where Reek volunteered praised her “passion … bubbly personality and sense of humour”.

The organisation, which serves Leicestershire and Rutland, confirmed on Wednesday Reek had recently been nominated for the Lord-Lieutenant’s young volunteer of the year award.

It said in a statement that Reek had been volunteering at Loros since September 2017 as part of the day therapy team.

“She worked hard and her passion for committing to pursue a career in the health sector was clear, with the patients’ needs always at the forefront of her work. She will be greatly missed by all of her colleagues at Loros.”

Hinckley Road remains closed to allow the emergency services and police to continue to investigate the explosion.