Surely if demolishing a house like that, it is going to be pretty damned obvious that it is lived in.

I look at that rubble and I don't see a lot of evidence. Surely you would see TVs, computers, washing machines, fridges - those kinds of things are pretty resilient structurally. Sure you would break em real quick but an american sized fridge is still going to be a huge lump of white metal.

Had it been chock full of the usual stuff people have I think the workmen would have stopped once they saw the first household appliance or two fall out.

Furthermore, surely if a house was going to be demolished, electric and gas would be disconnected at least a day or two before the event. I would doubt it is something the contractors would have done, so if they really got the wrong house, surely the gas would still be on?

Something tells me there was sod all in the house and he is trying to milk it. Maybe he did know it was going to happen and didn't stop it for insurance purposes.