Family's terror after arson attack

A family forced to flee after an early morning arson attack at their Wolverhampton home today have spoken of their terror.

Sean Foster, a self-employed plumbing and heating engineer, was asleep along with 30-year-old wife Michelle and their children Milly, aged five, and two-year-old Chad when the blaze started at their semi-detached house in Mattox Road, Wednesfield.

Thieves are thought to have set light to the Ford Transit after failing to steal copper piping from the storage tub on top that Mr Foster uses for his business."My wife and I were woken by an explosion at 3.30am and looked outside to see the van on fire, said Mr Foster, aged 32. "Then we heard the front window cracking, snatched the children from their beds and ran for it.

The kids were screaming and shouting. It was terrible."

Mrs Foster said: "The flames were so bad that we couldn't get up the driveway and had to shelter in the back garden."