Police were continuing to question a 33-year-old man today after a convicted fraudster’s £1.8 million country home was destroyed by fire.

A 39-year-old man remains in a critical condition in hospital following the blaze at the five-bedroom property in Chester Road, Aldridge.

A fire investigation team was continuing to sift through the wreckage of the fire today for clues using a specialist dog team and forensics.

The house was previously owned by David ‘Nipper’ Harris, who was jailed for six years in 1994, aged 44, for being the ringleader behind a £35 million mortgage fraud.

In February, the Serious Organised Crime Agency confiscated the property, and another in the palatial grounds, under the Proceeds of Crime Act because they alleged it had been bought from ill-gotten gains.

Detectives were alerted to the fire on Wednesday night, when a badly-burned man staggered into Bloxwich police station.

Firefighters described the blaze, which destroyed most of the house, as “spectacular”.