A man found dead by firefighters who had been called to a flat blaze in Manningham has now been named as Raymond Wheatley.

Mr Wheatley, 61, was discovered in a ground-floor flat at Mornington Villas on Sunday and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Police and fire investigation officers had begun an investigation into the man’s death, but early indications suggested the fire may not have been the cause.

A post mortem was due to be carried out yesterday to determine whether Mr Wheatley had died from natural causes before the fire broke out.

Neighbours in the flat above his raised the alarm after the fire set off the building’s smoke detector.

Bradford fire station watch commander Mark Whitaker said a pan had been left on a hob, but the fire was small and had not caused much damage to the flat.

Neighbour Kirsty Murphy, who lives in the flat above, said: “I looked outside and saw the smoke coming out of his kitchen window. I went down and banged on his door but there was no answer. The fire brigade came a few minutes after that.”

Another neighbour, Nathan O’Neill, said the man had been “always happy”.

He said: “I didn’t really know him, I just used to see him around. He lived alone. He was a nice man, he never did anything wrong. He was always happy.”

A police spokesman said Mr Wheatley’s death was not being treated as suspicious and therefore was no longer under investigation by them.