A LICENSEE was told her bar had been severely damaged by arsonists while she lay in a hospital bed.

Dee Flynn, 67, runs Mistley Village Hall’s bar, which was ravaged when fire swept through the building.

Mrs Flynn, of Stour View Close, Mistley, was in Colchester General Hospital recovering from an eye operation when her husband broke the news the bar had been ruined.

She said: “I was gutted. Over the past three years, I have put about £15,000 into the bar.

“The people that did it should grow up, act their age and think of other people besides themselves.

“They are spoiling it for everyone.”

The village hall was set alight overnight on Friday, March 23.

Arsonists poured a flammable liquid through the letter box and set it on fire.

The bar was damaged, the hall’s floor was destroyed and stock went up in flames.

Mrs Flynn said: “The cellar walls are blacked out and a fridge freezer has been melted.

“Luckily, it just missed the gas tanks. If it had hit them, it would have been razed to the floor.

“We have lost an awful lot of money.”

When Mrs Flynn’s husband, Bernard, 75, told his wife the bad news, she initially thought he was joking.

Mr Flynn said: “I didn’t tell her until about three days afterwards as I didn’t want to upset her, it was very difficult.

“She just laughed at me and said, ‘Don’t be a fool’. I said, ‘I’m not joking this time’.”

The Flynns are still waiting for news on when they can begin rebuilding the bar.

Iris Peacock, chairman of the village hall committee, is still unsure of the full extent of the damage to the building.

She said: “We can only see a very small part of it.

“Getting back in depends on when we can get the deep clean team in.”

No one has been arrested in connection with the Arson.

Anyone with information can calll Mistley police on 101.