Probe into car arson attack closed down
LANCASHIRE police have ended their investigation into an arson attack which saw a car set on fire outside a family home.
In the shocking incident, a man pour liquid onto a Volkswagen outside a house in Yew Tree Road in Ormskirk before igniting it.
The resulting blaze destroyed the vehicle and damaged another parked alongside it, as well as causing smoke damage to the owners’ house.
The attack happened while Paul Ponting, his wife and two children were in their home at around 12.45am on Thursday, March 9 last year.
CCTV footage of the incident, which was later shown in an appeal on BBC’s Crimewatch, showed a light Vauxhall Astra pulling up in Grimshaw Lane at around 12.25am.
One man could be seen leaving the vehicle and running across a pub car park before reaching the driveway of the property in Yew Tree Road.
Mr Ponting told the Advertiser that he was reading in bed when the room suddenly lit up.
When he looked out of the bedroom window he saw that his car had been engulfed in flames.
He said that when he raced downstairs and opened his front door, the ferocity of the flames shocked him and forced him back inside his house.
The dad-of-two helped his wife and two children downstairs to the kitchen, which is at the back of their home.
Despite the widely-shared witness appeals, no-one has ever been charged in relation to the incident. According to a letter Mr Ponting has now received from Det Sgt Monk of Lancashire police, a suspect was interviewed on Tuesday, October 31 and later released.
The letter said: “Since that time, further inquiries have been conducted and are now complete.
“Unfortunately, due to insufficient evidence, they have been released without charge.” Speaking to the Advertiser, a spokesman for the force said: “No one has been charged and the investigation has closed pending any new evidence coming to light.
“If anyone has any information they think could help, they can report it to us on 101.”