A JILTED husband turned his home into a time bomb before blowing himself up after his wife walked out on him. The flat was wrecked but remarkably 37-year-old Peter Reid was carried alive out of the rubble of his home. Mr Reid suffered 40 per cent burns to his body. His hair and clothing was on fire when a fireman spotted him on the balcony of his flat.

His wife was sitting in a police car outside the flat when the explosion ripped through her former home. Rubble from the explosion was found more than 100 yards from the scene.

Mr Reid - who was due to appear before Salford magistrates shortly in connection with an incident involving his wife - was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital before being transferred to Withington Hospital. He was critically ill this lunchtime. Forty homes in Gibson Lane, Little Hulton, were evacuated late last night after Mr Reid turned on the gas from his fire and cooker.

Neighbours raised the alarm and the police were contacted after Mr Reid refused to allow gas officials into his home.

The area was quickly sealed off and a trained police negotiator, firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene. Police officers had to shout to Mr Reid from the street below. The police negotiator could not use the telephone amid fears that it would ignite the gas which has engulfed the first floor flat and the street outside.

Mr Reid continually threated to blow up the flat with a cigarette lighter - during a three-hour siege - if he was not able to speak to his wife.

Around 40 people from nearby houses were evacuated to nearby Armitage Labour Club and were looked after by a police victim support unit. Crews from Farnworth and Atherton fire stations surrounded the flat while police negotiated with the man through the window.

Police tried in vain to coax Mr Reid out but at 1.10am today an explosion ripped through the flat. Police and firefighters on the street outside were covered with rubble as debris from the blast was blown over their heads.

The roof of the flat was blown off and other neighbouring properties were damaged.

Supt Peter Morris of Swinton Police said: "It was a massive blast. How someone could survive something like that I will never know." Firefighters used a ladder to rescue Mr Reid from an upstairs window. He was treated by paramedics on the pavement outside before being taken to hospital.

Station Officer Neil Barlow from Farnworth fire station said Mr Reid was "extremely lucky" to be brought out alive.

He said: "When we got the call we were very concerned at the situation and arrived there without sirens because we didn't want to aggravate things.

"The man was obviously very distressed and was asking to see his wife, from whom he had split up.

"When it got past 1am suddenly there was an almighty explosion that lit the sky. We were astonished when we found him alive."

Today neighbour David Martin, 25, told how he saw the council flat explode in ball of fire. Earlier, father of two Mr Martin had helped clear the area of other residents.

But Mr Martin, along with a group of friends, stayed behind at the scene watching negotiations unfold between the emergency services and the man inside.

He added: "You see stuff like that on the telly, and you think it's been made up, but it's not after what I saw.

"Before anything happened both the rooms went orange, then the roof just came off with a ball of fire the size of a bus. That happened about five or six times.

Screaming

"I could hear him screaming. We ran as close as we could. From what I've heard he was in the kitchen of his flat."

Other neighbours told how Transco workers had arrived at the scene earlier in the evening, after residents had reported smelling gas.

After an initial hunt for a leak, a gas man established it was in the flat after pushing a sensor probe through a letterbox.

But as the Transco worker tried to break into the flat the occupant warned him off.

Neighbour Hilda Booth told the BEN: "It was about 10pm last night that the gas man tried to break down the door, but the man inside just yelled 'if you try to come in I'll strike a match'."

Police Scene of Crimes Officers were examining the flat this morning.

Another neighbour, Karen Preston, 25, told how she had been evacuated from the flat below Mr Reid's. Her flat was badly damaged.

Miss Preston, who has a four year old son, Luke, said she contacted Transco to report the gas leak. She told the BEN: "I have worked hard in that flat. It's been my life, but, at the end of the day, me and my son are all right and that's all I'm bothered about." Miss Preston, who has lived in her flat for the last four years, has still not been able to get in to assess the scale of damage.

She said she knew little about Mr Reid, who lived alone in the flat.

This morning Mr Reid's distraught wife was being comforted by family friends at the Armitage Social Club close to the scene of the blast.

Mrs Reid was too upset to talk but Steve Hammond, 44, manager of the club and a personal friend of the couple revealed that Mr Reid had made threats recently to commit suicide.

Mr Hammond told how Mr and Mrs Reid had recently taken over stewardship of Cheetham Hill Royal British Legion where they had lived.

But Mr Reid recently returned to the flat which last night went up in a ball of flames after problems had developed at his work.

This morning Mr Hammond said that Peter Reid's wife had remained in charge of the British Legion Club where she was living with the couple's son Ben, aged four.

Mr Hammond added: "She's very distraught at the moment. It was 5.30 this morning before she came round and went to bed. It's been a busy night for us. We have been caring for evacuees providing them with brews all night."

Talking about Mr Reid's state of mind the social club manager added: "I spoke to him not long ago. He had threatened to take his life in the past. He had been on the phone constantly to his wife and his wife had been ringing us because we are quite good friends of hers rather than his."

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