A SECOND arson attack, this time at the home an elderly couple in a quiet Bidford street, has struck fear into residents.

People living in Westholme Road have begun chopping down trees and bushes in their gardens to prevent further attacks after four mature Leylandi trees were set on fire in the middle of the night.

Paul and Kathleen Mackintosh were sleeping in the back room of their house when a neighbour spotted the flames at about midnight last Wednesday and rang the fire service.

Almost all of the hedge, which the couple had been growing for 20 years, and an overhead telephone cable was damaged.

Mr Mackintosh, aged 77, said he believed an accelerant, like petrol, was used because the fire happened so fast, spreading ash across the street and onto neighbouring houses.

"We don't need this sort of thing at our age. Let's hope they catch them soon," he said.

Ray Steele, the neighbour who spotted the fire, said he is frightened to go to bed and he now sleeps with a hose pipe next to the house so he is ready to put out fires in the middle of the night.

He has also cut down a four-year-old tree in his front garden because he feared more arson attacks.

Mr Steele, who stopped the fire spreading at both ends of the hedge until fire crews arrived, said: "We bought a house here because of the beauty of it all and we are being driven away by thugs. This is not rumour-mongering, this is danger. Bidford has outgrown itself and now we need local bobbies on patrol."

Alcester police are investigating the arson and criminal damage and have linked the attack to a similar incident last month when two 10ft conifer trees were set on fire in an 83-year-old widower's garden.

Three boys, one aged about 12 and the other two about 14, were seen running from the area shortly after the attack.

Anyone with information should contact PC Sue Neville at Alcester police on 01926 415000, voicemail 10427.