He told the Times: 'I could feel it getting hotter in my hand, and I thought I could see vapour.

'Within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it went 10ft in the air.'

Mr Stanborough, 47, from Liverpool, contacted Apple and Argos, where he bought the £162 device. After speaking to an Apple executive, he was sent a letter which denied liability but offered a refund.

The letter also stated that by accepting the refund, Mr Stanborough was to 'agree that you will keep the terms and existence of this settlement agreement completely confidential', and that any breach of confidentiality 'may result in Apple seeking injunctive relief, damages and legal costs against the defaulting persons or parties'.
iPod caught fire

There have been scores of reported incidents of iPods overheating and catching fire, similar to the one pictured which burnt a hole in a car seat

Mr Stanborough said: 'I thought it was a very disturbing letter. They're putting a restriction on myself, my daughter and Ellie's mum, not to say anything to anyone.

'If we inadvertently did say anything, no matter what, they might take litigation against us.
iPod Touch

An iPod Touch similar to Ellie's which exploded and flew 10ft in the air

'I thought that was absolutely appalling. We didn't ask for compensation, we just asked for our money back.'

It comes after it emerged that Apple had tried to keep a number of cases where its iPod digital music players had started to smoke, burst into flames and even burned owners out of the public domain.

A U.S. reporter obtained 800 pages of documents on cases from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after a Freedom of Information request.

CPSC investigators suggested that lithium ion batteries in iPods could be the problem.

Apple and Dell recalled millions of lithium ion batteries in 2006 after overheating problems in laptops caused fires.

Last year the Japanese government issued a warning that iPod Nanos could present fire risk, stating that there had been 14 cases where the devices had caught fire in the country.

And in March, a woman in Ohio launched legal action against Apple after her son's iPod Touch allegedly exploded in his pocket, burning his leg.

An Apple spokesman told the Times that, as it had not look at Ellie Stanborough's damaged iPod, it could not comment.

image taken from google