Police last night named a man and three siblings killed in a suspicious explosion and fireball which destroyed their home.

Roderick Hine, and his partner's children, Samantha Carter, aged 16, Patricia Carter, 10, and Marcus Carter, seven, died in the blaze at the house in Cheddleton, near Leek, Staffordshire, at around midnight on Thursday.

Last night police were continuing to question a man in connection with the incident.

Witnesses reported seeing a man running from the house shortly after 11.35pm on Thursday.

Mr Hine lived at the semi-detached house in Hillside Road with his partner, 35-year-old Amanda Carter and three of her four children.

They were described by neighbours as "the perfect family".

Mr Hine is believed to have been employed at the Cheddleton-based agricultural engineering firm Bateman's.

Ms Carter worked as a night care assistant at Basford Hurst Nursing Home in the town and had been called away from her shift following news of the tragedy.

Colleagues described her as "a bubbly, friendly and caring person" and said their thoughts and sympathies were with her.

A woman who left flowers outside the house this afternoon said she was devastated by the news.

Heather Johnson, 58, who lives locally, said: "Rod was a wonderful person. I am so devastated. Everyone in Cheddleton is devastated.

"It does not compare to anything that has happened in the past. It's not that sort of place. They were the perfect family."

A former colleague of Mr Hine, John Harvey, said the dead man's brother, a director at Bateman's, had turned up at the house this morning distraught.

The neighbour said: "I was the first to console Rob when he arrived at the scene. He was distraught.

"It is so tragic. They were making a new life for themselves and now that life has been wiped out."

Mr Harvey, from nearby Sneyd Close, described how he had been woken by the sound of sirens.

"I ran down to the house in just my t-shirt and was asking the paramedics if the children were still inside," he said.

"I spoke to a neighbour who said he had tried to smash a window and could hear children screaming. You couldn't get close to the house because of the flames."