A CHILD described how she smelt petrol near the tent of a man the night before he was arrested on suspicion of starting a fire which killed three generations of the same family.

A recording of a police interview with a girl was played to the jury in the trial of Carl Mills, in which the youngster said she had been with her mum near the house of the victims at around 11pm on September 17, last year.

Mills, 28, of no fixed abode, is charged with the murder of Kim Buckley, 46, her daughter Kayleigh, 17, and granddaughter Kimberley, six months.

They all died when a fire ripped through their home in Tillsland, Coed Eva, Cwmbran, on September 18, 2012.

Mills denies the charges.

In the video interview, the youngster, who can't be named for legal reasons, said she had been at a friend's house celebrating a birthday the night before the fire.

When she was dropped off, she said she had walked around three to four metres away from the tent which was outside the Buckley home and that she could smell petrol.

She said she recognised the smell from the petrol station.

The court previously heard Mills had been sleeping in the tent outside the home prior to the fire.

The girl then described how she had seen movement in the tent which she described as a "one-man tent".

She said she had seen no-one else in the area.

She said she was only in the area long enough to walk past but then woke up the next day and saw on the news what had happened and realised she had walked past the area.

Under questioning from defence barrister Patrick Harrington QC she said she couldn't tell where the smell was coming from, just that it smelled like petrol.

Proceeding.