British police investigating the Bradford City stadium fire that killed 56 football fans say an Australian man admitted dropping the cigarette thought to have started the blaze, according to a BBC documentary.
A retired detective has told the BBC how officers worked out it was a man visiting from Australia called Eric Bennett who accidentally started the fire, but a decision was taken at the time not to release his name.
Australian Federal Police told AAP in Sydney they were not able to confirm whether there were any historic records of an investigation into Bennett and referred the matter to UK authorities.
The official inquiry into the tragedy on May 11, 1985, headed by Oliver Popplewell, concluded that it was an accident and was probably started by a spectator dropping a cigarette into rubbish that had accumulated under an old timber stand.
The blaze ripped through the wooden structure in just a few minutes as Bradford City played Lincoln City in an end-of-season match, leaving many fans unable to get out.
Retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer has told the BBC documentary - Missed Warnings: the Bradford City Fire - that he interviewed Bennett.
Falconer said: "He said he'd been at the match, he'd been sat in the stand, right where we knew the seat of the fire had taken place. He said he smoked a cigarette, dropped the cigarette on to the floor in front of him, went to put his foot on it, but it had unfortunately dropped through, he said, a knot hole."
Bennett told officers that he tried to extinguish the fire by pouring coffee on to it but, within minutes, smoke and then flames took hold.
The documentary is being shown a day after more than 1000 people gathered in Bradford city centre to mark the 30th anniversary of the tragedy.
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