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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National

Tamworth fire: Police arrest man following 'arson attack' at mental health hospital

Smoke and flames rising into the sky as an inferno rips through a mental health facility in Tamworth (Picture: Bradley Stokes/PA)

Police have detained a man on suspicion of arson after a huge inferno ripped through a mental health facility.

The 43-year-old was held as firefighters tackled the "severe" blaze which broke out at the George Bryan Medical Centre, near the Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Tamworth, on Monday night.

Dramatic images showed flames and smoke billowing from the building's roof, part of which appeared to have fallen in.

Staffordshire Police said a suspect, from Tamworth, had been detained and appealed for information from witnesses.

Firefighters work at the scene of a fire at George Bryan Centre at the Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Tamworth (AFP/Getty Images)

A spokesman from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) earlier said there had been reports of one of the patients absconding during the commotion caused by the blaze.

A police spokesman told the BBC the patient had been found soon afterwards.

Christopher Pincher, the Conservative MP for Tamworth, said he was "very concerned" by the fire.

A firefighter at the scene of a severe fire at the George Bryan Centre at Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Mile Oak (PA)

"I very much hope that there are no injuries and wish all the best to our local fire crews, Police and emergency services," he wrote on Twitter.

SFRS said it was first called to reports of fire at the hospital at 8.52pm.

Some 10 crews from Staffordshire, West Midlands and Warwickshire fire services were deployed as fire took hold at the facility, prompting the evacuation of nearly a dozen occupants and staff.

A spokesman from SFRS said that there was "quite a lot of the building involved" in the blaze.

A firefighter tackling a blaze in Tamworth (PA)

"We're trying to sacrifice part of the building and let that burn to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the hospital," he added.

Staffordshire Police said they were called to the incident at 9.15pm. There are no reported casualties.

The force said 11 occupants and staff were evacuated from the centre and were being transferred to other local medical centres.

The George Bryan Centre shares a site with the Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in the Mile Oak area of Tamworth, although the two buildings are not connected.

The facility is run by the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and provides mental health services for adults, including acute care under the Mental Health Act.

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