A MAN accused of the murder of three generations of the same family told police he first became aware of the fire when he saw smoke while sat on a nearby wall.

In police interviews read out in court, Carl Mills denied being responsible for the deaths of his girlfriend Kayleigh Buckley, their baby daughter Kimberley Buckley and Kayleigh’s mum Kim Buckley and denied being responsible for the arson of their home.

He said at the time of the incident, he had been sat on a wall near the Mill Tavern pub in Cwmbran drinking cider and “chilling” when he had seen smoke and had heard shouting and screaming as well as “popping noises and banging” and sirens.

He said that after going to see what was happening, he saw flames and began to “run down then”.

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.

DC John Crandon read out the police interview script in court with junior prosecution barrister TomCrowther QC.

In a police interview held on September 18, Mills said that after arriving near the house he asked a neighbour what happened.

Mills said he told the neighbour that Kayleigh and the baby were in there, and then told this to the fire brigade too, and pointed out the bedrooms.

Mills said he had tried to go through the front door but couldn’t because there were flames there, and said a neighbour had shouted to him: “Carl, don’t do it.”

He said he then ran round to the back of the house to see if he could get in.

He said: “It was locked. I kicked it.

He added: “I just walked out then”

Mills said he had kicked the door about five or six times and was also trying to find a brick.

But he said as he walked away, he saw police who took him to a police car.

Mills, who described himself as being “in shock” at the scene, said: “I was really panicking and thinking are they all ok.”

Mills said his hands were blackened when police found him because he had been picking up cigarettes from the floor while in town the evening before the fire.

Mills, who told police Kayleigh had an engagement ring which he bought her, said he had met up with the teenage mum the evening before the fire, and that they had been talking about the future and baby Kimberley.

In interview Mills said he did have an alcohol addiction and he had bought a three litre bottle of cider earlier that day and had drank about two litres of it.

He said this was the first drink he had had in a week.

He said he was feeling “tipsy” but knew what he was doing.

Relationship with Kim ‘all right’ says Mills

MILLS told police Kim Buckley was like a “second mum” to him.

In interview, DC Crandon asked him what his relationship with Kim was like to which Mills replied: “It wasn’t a good one.”

Mills said Ms Buckley didn’t like the age difference between him and Kayleigh and didn’t like his drinking.

But he said they got on well when he was sober and he would do the house and garden.

He described his recent relationship with Ms Buckley as “all right” and said they had no arguments or disagreements. He said she had also tried to help him stop drinking.

When asked what he thought of her, he replied: “She was caring.

She was like a mother to a lot of people.

“Because my mother was in Manchester, she was like my second mum.”