A YOUNG mum and her child were left homeless by the gas blast which ripped through an adjoining flat in Little Hulton last Monday.

Single mum Karen Preston and her son Luke, four, were forced to move to her mum's house, after the explosion wrecked her flat.

It came after her neighbour Peter Reid, who lived in the flat above Karen's, threatened to blow his gas-filled home up in the early hours of Monday morning.

Just after 1am the block of flats was rocked by an explosion, hours after gas board officials had pinpointed the source of the gas to Mr Reid's flat.

Ruined

Now Karen says her council flat in Gibson Lane, Little Hulton, which she has spent four years decorating and furnishing, has been ruined.

And the 25-year-old woman will not be be compensated for her possessions which were destroyed, because she could not afford to pay the insurance premiums.

She said: "I'm just devastated. The flat was my life and it's all gone up in smoke. I've worked really hard and the flat was beautiful.

"Only a few weeks ago I finished decorating my son's bedroom. I had bought new curtains, carpets and beds. The only thing which the fire brigade managed to save was my sofa."

She is currently living at her mum, Linda's, house in Westminster Road, Walkden, waiting to be moved into a new council property in Walkdene Drive, Little Hulton.

Karen said she could still not understand how anyone could put so many other lives at risk. She said: "I still can't understand why he put people through this. It's not just us, the explosion could have hurt a lot of the other neighbours."

Last night a Salford City Council spokesman confirmed that Karen would be re-housed following the gas blast. He added: "The future of the building has still not yet been decided. We will be taking a close look at the structure in the aftermath of this incident."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.