Who firebombed our home?

EXTENSIVE damage . . . Brian Howarth surveys the damage to his home

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A £10,000 reward is now being offered by a family desperate for information about a petrol bomb attack on their home.

Brian and Debbie Howarth were left fearing for their family’s safety when their home on High Barn Road in Royton was deliberately set ablaze back in September.

The “bomb” landed on an extension roof and fire spread so quickly that the roof was destroyed within minutes and fire was threatening to enter the main part of the house - yards from the bedroom of the couple’s daughter Tia (15). Luckily the family – which included Debbie’s sister and the family pets - was woken by smoke alarms and they all escaped.

Debbie (50) said: “We won’t feel safe until they are caught. We’re not prepared to become a statistic in another unsolved crime. We will do everything we can to get justice.”

The family was forced to move out of their home of 15 years to protect themselves from further attack.

Debbie, who regularly organises fundraising events in the local community, added: “Our entire life was uprooted in one just moment. We are terrified to think we have been targeted and don’t feel safe in our own home.”

Emergency services, including three fire engines from Lees Road and Chadderton, quickly put out the blaze, but the fire, in the early hours of September 30, left the property badly damaged.

Brian (52), director of NBS Transport Oldham, said: “At first we heard an alarm going off and assumed it was our home security system. When we later realised that it wasn’t a random attack and that we had been deliberately targeted, we were horrified.”

Information which leads to a conviction is sought, and anyone who can help should call 07398-605 224. All calls will be treated in the strictest confidence.