Flat blast teenager lucky to be alive

May 15 2008 by The Journal

A TEENAGER from the North thought to have been targeted in a house explosion is lucky to be alive, her mother said yesterday.

Charlotte Anderson was badly burned after her home was blown up by a girl gang following a row over a love rival. The 17-year-old could now be scarred for life after her London flat exploded, killing her next-door neighbour.

At first it was believed the cause was a gas explosion but police have now launched a murder inquiry and believe a gang of teenage girls may have poured a liquid explosive they researched on the internet through Charlotte’s letterbox in a bid to exact revenge after a row over a boy.

Charlotte’s mother Elaine Leonard, 41, who has travelled from her home in Cramlington, Northumberland, to be by her side in a London hospital, called for those who almost took her daughter’s life to be brought to justice.

She said: “You hear about things like this on the telly, but you can’t believe it until you see it with your own eyes and it happens to you or your family.

“You look at the street and there’s nothing left. I don’t know how Charlotte survived.

“When I saw her I didn’t recognise her. She was burned all over her face and body.

“She is lovely, bonny lass and I always tease her about being a poser. She always want to look good for the camera. But now she could be scarred for life and she’s in a lot of pain. She’ll turn 18 in a few weeks. She should have been having the time of her life, but instead she could still be in hospital.

“These are just lasses, but they have tried to blow up my daughter. You might hear about lads doing stuff like this, but teenage girls? I blame gang culture. These kids are out of control. They try to settle things with knives, guns and now bombs.

“I’ve begged Charlotte to come back to Newcastle, but she’s determined not to let this drive her out of London.”

The explosion ripped through the Victorian terrace last Wednesday at 9.30pm, flattening three homes and killing Emad Qureshi, 26, who was crushed to death by falling rubble. Charlotte was dragged from the debris by a passer-by.

The former pupil of Balliol Primary School in Longbenton, North Tyneside, left the North East eight years ago and was placed in foster care in London.

But she has always stayed in touch with her mother, older sister Gemma Nesbitt, 21, and brother Stephen Anderson, 22, and made regular visits to Tyneside.

For the past few months Charlotte had been living in a flat in Harrow, North London, attending college in preparation for a childcare course.

Det Chief Insp Colin Sutton of the Metropolitan Police said: “We are aware that at some point during the course of Wednesday there was a substance put through the letterbox.

“There may well be a connection between this liquid and the cause of the explosion.”