A wheelchair-bound woman has told of her terror in the seconds before she leapt to safety from her blazing flat.

Gutted - the remains of the building following the fire last week (38555-2)

She has appealed for witnesses to help find the arsonist. Joanne Horwood, 32, who had lived in the first-floor flat in Pallister Road for 18 months, urged anyone with even the smallest piece of information to contact the police.

Joanne, who has cerebral palsy, has had a stroke and suffers from epilepsy, said she has lost everything in the fire and is devastated at the loss of the photographs of her children.

She said it is the third time an arsonist has tried to set fire to her flat. She added: I think this person is targeting me deliberately."

She was woken in the early hours of Thursday by a friend shouting fire. "I was petrified, " she said.

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Published Monday, October 4, 2004

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