POLICE have confirmed the mother of tragic toddler Louie Bowers was not at home when the blaze that claimed his life broke out.

Louie died after the blaze broke out in the bedroom he shared with his brother at a maisonette in Weston. Last night officers investigating the blaze said his mother Lisa Bowers,33, was next door at a neighbour's home when the fire started.

But a police spokesman said they were satisfied her children, who were left in the charge of a 15-year-old babysitter, were being looked after properly.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Echo neighbours tried in vain to save the 21-month-old youngster but were beaten back by the thick smoke and heat.

Firefighters found the youngster in his cot but despite efforts to resuscitate him Louie was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Today police leading the investigation confirmed that they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the fire as they believed the blaze had come from an "internal" source.

Det Supt Gary Linton said: "We are looking at some sort of internal cause but we cannot say what the exact cause is at this stage."

He added that the police were not in a position to comment on whether the children who were in the property at the time, Louie's older brother and sister and two other children, had anything to do with the cause of the blaze.

However, police confirmed that Louie's mother Lisa Bowers, 33, had been in her next-door neighbours' house in Kingsclere Close when the fire broke out at about 8am on Sunday.

The spokesman said: "We are satisfied that the children were being properly looked after and that their mother knew where they were at all times.

"A babysitter who was almost 16 had been put in charge of supervising the younger children while their mother was in the adjoining property. Due to the nature of the properties she could also hear exactly what was going on in her own home."

Police officers who were specially trained in interviewing children spent yesterday talking to Louie's older brother and sister in a bid to piece together how the fire started.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo Ms Bowers described the loss of her youngest son as heartbreaking.