ARSON attacks causing £60,000 in damage to farms in the Sittingbourne area are being investigated by police.

Firefighters spent 12 hours tackling a blaze in a barn at Bax Farm, Lower Road, Tonge, on Saturday night.

Damage was put at £20,000, with 300 tonnes of baled straw worth £20,000 also destroyed.

A fire in a barn at nearby Banks Farm, Conyer, two days earlier destroyed 500 rolls of straw. There was also a small straw fire at the farm at the beginning of September.

A spokesman for Sittingbourne-based GH Dean Ltd, which owned the straw being stored in the barns, said he did not think the attacks were connected to their recent planning application for new farm buildings in Rodmersham.

PC Alan Grainger of Swale CID said: "It would appear from what witnesses have said that the fire at Bax Farm involved youths rather than anyone with malicious intent."

Two youths aged about 13 were seen heading towards the barn on BMX bikes an hour before fire broke out. They are described as white, with short dark hair. One was wearing a blue baseball cap and one was wearing a red T-shirt.

Anyone with any information can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.