POLICE revealed today that they were treating a house fire that claimed the life of 27-year-old Kent Water Board engineer Matthew Thatcher as suspicious.

A spokeswoman for Maidstone and Malling police said: “Following inquiries carried out after a house fire in Victoria Street, Eccles, a 30-year-old female is currently being questioned by police.”

Meanwhile, fire brigade union officials have insisted that firefighters working normally would not have reached the house in time to save Mr Thatcher.

Mr Thatcher, died in the early hours of Saturday morning. Two fire engines crossed picket line at Larkfield Fire Station to assist the military.

Harry Sawyer, the Kent secretary of the Fire Brigade Union, said that firefighters were saddened by the death of Mr Thatcher but he stressed: "There would not have been any difference if there had not been a strike."

He added: "Unfortunately, by the time we got to the house, the man was already out of the building and unconscious on a stretcher. After giving advice to the military personnel we returned to the station."