A man has been arrested and charged in connection with an explosion which ripped through a block of flats in South Bristol.
The 35-year-old appeared before magistrates in Bristol on Friday, and was released on conditional bail to reappear before a judge at Bristol Crown Court on April 15.
James Gerald Toogood, who was recorded by the court as being of no fixed abode, is facing a charge of arson with intent to endanger life/reckless as to whether life was endangered.
The charge relates to an incident in Whitchurch Lane in Hartcliffe on February 23.
The explosion and fire blew out the front of a block of flats in Whitchurch Lane just before 8pm on the evening of Saturday, February 23.
There were several casualties, and firefighters instigated a major emergency services response involving all three blue light services.
The building was declared structurally unsafe and a number of people living in the flats have been left temporarily homeless by the incident. Within hours, friends and family in Hartcliffe rallied round and a fundraiser was set up to help them.
Mr Toogood was arrested in the middle of last week - around four weeks after the explosion - and later charged.
