Appeal to help arson-hit family as fire wrecks sensory room and home

The blaze in the Highfields area of Stafford on Friday night was started deliberately on a fence panel and then spread to the house.

None of the occupants – two adults and four children – were hurt in the blaze in Surrey Road but the house was left severely damaged and the family are now unable to live there.

One of the children suffers from autism and the house had a special sensory room installed, which has been ruined by smoke damage.

Residents are now raising money for the family and are asking for donations to help them get back on their feet.

Lise Leighton-Cook said on Facebook: "Unfortunately the family that fell victim to the arson in Highfields have quite a lot of additional needs including an autistic child who has just had a sensory room built which is now ruined due to smoke damage.

"The family have been placed in temporary accommodation but have had to start again from scratch, they have clothes that's all been sorted but now looking for everything else that you would need to start a house from scratch."

A JustGiving page, set up by Donna Hewison at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/donna-hewison, had raised £240 at the time of writing.

Ms Hewison wrote on the page: "Her four children have been affected by the fire last night, Mark has epilepsy and Chloe has autism and Arnold chiari malformation.

"They have a seven-month-old baby and a 14 and 13-year-old and there are two bedrooms downstairs.

"Everything is smoked damage including the two downstairs bedrooms, wet room, kitchen and living room, smoke damage is throughout the house.

"The family can no longer live at the home due to the damage."