Two brothers were today guarding a burned-out house after arsonists started a blaze which almost wrecked their home.
Wrecked - Robert Lee and his daughter Lisa are counting the cost after arsonists torched their vehicles which almost destroyed their home Picture: TERENCE BUNCH
The family has been offered temporary accommodation at a homeless people's unit more than 20 miles away - an offer they have rejected.
Robert Lee, of Monoux Close, Billericay, awoke in the early hours of yesterday morning to find the front of his terraced house ablaze with fierce flames lapping against the bedroom window.
The house is owned by London's Waltham Forest Council which offered the temporary accommodation in Walthamstow. Mr Lee said: "This is a joke. I've lived around Billericay all my life, my sons have got jobs here and my daughter is about to sit her exams. How can we go to east London?"
Waltham Forest Council claim they will repair the damage within a week and during that time Mr Lee's sons will guard the house.
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2003
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