Old Heath Road arson victims back from holiday to a big shock

Julie Herlihy, her husband Michael, and their two daughters, four-fear-old Isla and nine-year-old Imogen, had been treated to a three-week holiday in Cyprus by a family friend.

The family were due to return to their home, in Old Heath Road, Colchester, on Monday evening, but aronsists are believed to have struck overnight on Sunday.

A fire on the front doorstep reduced the door almost to ash, caused tiles in the arched entrance to crack and fall and the front of a car parked beside the house melted.

The flames reached almost to the roof of the house, causing the gutter to melt and blackened the front of the building. Swift action by firefighters stopped the flames spreading too far inside the semi-detached house, but the smoke has wrecked everything inside.

Bedding has been turned black, the girls’ soft toys and clothes are permanently stained and the smell permeates the building.

Mrs Herlihy said: “We have got excellent friends and family around us, but it is soul-destroying.

“Whoever has done this has got so much hate in their soul.

“My nine-year-old daughter went inside and felt sick, she couldn’t even go upstairs. Everything in the house is ruined. We can’t live there. We just feel so sick. It is terrible, but it only makes us stronger. We have had set-backs in our lives, but we have got through them together.

“Apparently, if we had been there, we probably wouldn’t have got out, the smoke was so thick and so black.”

Police are investigating the cause of the blaze, and are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time of the fire and saw anybody acting suspiciously in the moments immediately before or afterwards.

Mrs Herlihy said: “We are hoping the people can be caught, because if they live with that much hatred for somebody, they need to seek help.

“They obviously haven’t been brought up with the love and support of each other like we have.”

Anyone with information can call police on 0300 3334444.