A FAMILY home has been burnt out just days after a car on the drive was set alight and destroyed.

Police are investigating the blaze at the £420,000 bungalow in Ash Road, Ash, near Dartford.

In a separate incident a few days earlier, 19 windows were smashed in the house and a car was set alight.

Now the owner, who was letting the property to a single man, says he is distraught his family home of 80 years has been so badly damaged. The bungalow, which was built in 1930, became an inferno on Saturday night.

David Goodwin, 74, a retired greengrocer, has lived on the land all his life and his mother died in the property, on Christmas Day, in 2006. He now lives next door with his wife.

Mr Goodwin said: “Up until Christmas, there were no problems, but then a window got smashed and we tried to contact the tenant but couldn’t.”

He said he then reported the man as missing. He was found a few days later.

On Wednesday, February 20, a car was set alight on the drive, destroying one window. The next day, Mr Goodwin went to check on the property and found all the windows had been smashed.

CCTV cameras had also been installed in every room and many of the tenant’s possessions were packed up in removal boxes.

Mr Goodwin said he had not been involved with the tenant at all and his lease would run out this Thursday.

On Saturday, the house was boarded up but, just before 10pm, two pumps from Dartford joined crews from Horton Kirby and Borough Green to fight the blaze.

A firefighter from Dartford said: “There was very little of the building left by the time we arrived. The roof had already collapsed.”

The road was closed as the fire crews tried to put out the flames, which were eventually extinguished after midnight.

Police are investigating the cause of the fire and whether the incident is linked to the earlier car fire.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 01732 379217 or Kent Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Any information given to Kent Police will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Two men arrested by police in the early hours of Sunday have been released on bail until late April. They have not been charged.