POLICE IN WALES HAVE charged one man with the murder of pregnant 19-year-old Nikitta Grender in Newport, south Wales.

Grender, 19, was found dead at her flat by firemen who had been called to a fire at the property.

A post-mortem showed she had been stabbed.

Police investigating the death said they suspected the fire may have been started to disguise the stabbing.

Gwent Police have confirmed that 26-year-old Carl Whant from the Newport area has been charged and a file has been sent forward to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Grender was eight months pregnant when she was murdered. The District Crown Prosecutor for CPS Gwent, Stacey Turney, said that while offences relating to unborn children are beyond the scope of a murder inquiry, her office advised police “to charge Whant with the offence of child destruction under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929″.

Whant was arrested by police last week. The BBC reports that he is a second cousin of Ryan Mayes, 18, Grender’s boyfriend and the father of her baby.

Whant will appear in court on Monday to face charges of murder and child destruction.