A COUPLE and their six-month-old baby were lucky to escape with their lives after their home was torched by arsonists while they lay asleep in bed.

A neighbour managed to wake Anthony Cruff, his wife Lisa and son William after spotting flames licking up the side of their home in Maidstone.

He noticed a bag packed with newspapers alight and the smell of petrol as he hammered on the window and door of the semi-detached house in Lincoln Road on Maidstone's Shepway estate.

His wife had looked out of their window by chance after hearing the sound of footsteps fleeing the scene.

Fire crews spent more than three hours tackling the blaze which engulfed the side porch. Within an hour it had destroyed 90 per cent of the roof and 40 per cent of the first floor.

The roof of the neighbouring house was also badly damaged. The woman who lives there was away at the time, at a wedding in the Caribbean.

Det Insp Nick Sparkes, of Maidstone CID, said a forensic examination of the scene had confirmed the fire had been started deliberately.

The attack, late on Monday night, comes just weeks after an arson spree on the Shepway estate in which a dozen cars were set alight. Police admit the latest incident, late on Monday night, is a worrying escalation, but officers are keeping an open mind on whether it is linked with the earlier fires.

Mr Sparkes said: “We had a forensic scientist examine the scene. She could not find any innocent explanation for the fire and there is evidence to support what the neighbour has said.

“This is a very serious incident and clearly there was potential for a loss of life with a young family in the house. Had the fire not been discovered in its infancy we could have been looking at a murder inquiry."

Mr Cruff, 33, said:“We have got no grudge with anybody or enemies. There is no motive for targeting us. We just can’t understand why someone would do this.”

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