A 31-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murdering seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, in a Middlesbrough house fire has been released without charge, Cleveland Police confirmed. A second man, since named as Jaden Wright, 23, remains in custody and is being questioned in connection with the deaths, though he has instead been charged with unrelated offences of grievous bodily harm and intentional strangulation relating to a separate attack.

Wright appeared before Teesside magistrates on Saturday over the GBH and strangulation charges, which relate to an alleged assault on 25 August against a woman living in a tent, who suffered a fractured eye socket. He did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody, with a further hearing due on 2 September. The house fire, in Grangetown, also left four other people injured, including a 48-year-old woman in a critical but stable condition and a 27-year-old man being treated in hospital; two teenage girls were discharged after treatment. Police said the fire was not linked to a recent fatal A66 collision that killed seven people, despite earlier suggestions of a possible connection to gang violence in the area.