A blaze which destroyed a static caravan at a farm near Herne Bay was being used by a homeless man who had been offered a place to live.

Artie Lockhart, the owner of Prospect Farm in Greenhill, allowed the man in his 60s to use a spare caravan after finding him sleeping rough on the streets of Canterbury three months ago.

Firefighters were called to the farm in Thornden Wood Road at 8.40am after reports that the building was on fire.

Mr Lockhart, 60, says it was all but destroyed by the time they arrived.

“They really do go up when they catch light and this one was all but destroyed by the time arrived,” he said.

Two crews from the Herne Bay station use hose reel jets to put out the fires.

Mr Lockhart had a let rough sleeper came across in a Canterbury doorway use the caravan and fears the man may have caused the blaze accidentally with a burning cigarette.

He said: “I found this bloke about three months ago and felt really sorry for him.

“He’s a lovely old bloke and we brought him over here, cleaned him up and gave him the caravan to live in. I didn’t charge him or anything.

“It’s a shame because he had somewhere to live and now he doesn’t. He was a drinker and a smoker so we think he may started the fire with a cigarette.

“He cleared off from the farm now, disappeared. Someone said they’d seen him walking down the road with all his hair burnt off.”