Man Trapped When Front Door Set On Fire

Police in Southampton are appealing for witnesses after a man had to be rescued from his flat after someone set fire to his front door.

A 48-year-old man was trapped inside the flat on the second floor of a flat in Kent Street, Southampton after someone is thought to have poured some sort of accelerant on the front door and set fire to it around midnight on Friday, 11 March.

It’s thought the same people may have been responsible for a previous attack on the door the day before at a similar time. It's not known what the motive for the attacks is.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to the incident at 00:06 and control operators mobilised two fire engines from St Mary’s Community Station. Ten firefighters attended the scene and one knapsack pump was used to extinguish the smouldering door.

Police are now appealing for witnesses. They would like to hear from them if they saw what happened or saw anyone hanging around the area at about that time suspiciously. They have already carried out house to house enquiries in the area and are checking CCTV.

Those with information about the crime are asked to call anyone with information about the crime or anyone who saw Detective Anton Gaita at Shirley CID on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.