“Angelic” 79-year-old woman who died in Birmingham house explosion named

An elderly woman who perished in the Kingstanding house blast on Sunday has been named by authorities.

Doreen Rees-Bibb, aged 79, tragically lost her life when her partner’s house was caught in a blast which reduced the building to rubble shortly after 8:30pm on Sunday night.

Family and friends of the tragic victim have been left distraught and described her as having “a heart of gold”. People have been leaving cards and flowers in tribute to the much-loved woman.

Doreen Rees-Bibb was dug out from under the rubble of the building by firefighters and sadly confirmed dead at the scene by ambulance crews.

She has been described as a loving mother who enjoyed life and was “the life and soul of the party” at family gatherings and parties.

Doreen, from Erdington, was at her partner’s house in Dulwich Road, Kingstanding, when the explosion occurred.

Her partner, who was heroically pulled from the wreckage by members of the public, has been named as David Murphy.

Mr Murphy’s three-bedroom property – now in lying in ruins – was reportedly estimated to be valued at £160,000 before the blast. Estate agents had allegedly warned some weeks ago that the boiler inside the property needed replacing.

However, authorities have yet to confirm the exact cause of the blast at the property and have declined to speculate on the matter until a full investigation has been conducted.

Chief Inspector Kelly Monaghan, of West Midlands Police, said at this stage of the investigation nothing “suspicious” had been found.

Area Commander Alex Chapland, of West Midlands Fire Service, said fire crews haven’t ruled out finding further fatalities: “We have searched the properties we can get into. We have liaised and spoken to all of the occupants of all the different properties.

“We’re not expecting to find anybody else in there, but until we have fully searched the area we can’t say with absolute certainty.”