Fearful father speaks of his family’s arson attack terror

Robin Horwood and his family have been left fearing for their lives following the attack on their home, in Decoy Drive, Angmering, last Wednesday (March 25).

Mr Horwood and his partner Clair Ellacoot, along with their two children, Samuel, two, and three-month-old baby Ashley were forced to flee their home at 4am.

However, the blaze did more than just wreck the shed and damage fencing, it destroyed a number of photo albums containing the last pictures of Mr Horwood’s two children, from a previous relationship, that died in separate, tragic circumstances.

The 51-year-old who works as a signaller for Network Rail, said: “I just feel numb. We had trinkets in the shed like the baby’s first boots, pictures of my boys – things that we are never going to be able to replace.”

Mr Horwood’s first son, Daniel, died in 1989 after contracting meningitis, while his second son, Jamie, died of cot death in 1991, aged only eight months.

The blaze also destroyed two mopeds which had been stored in the shed, with the cost of all the damage totalling more than £2,000.

The frightened father now fears that someone is deliberated targeting his family.

He explained that this was the fifth time his property had been vandalised.

He said if it hadn’t have been for his neighbours alerting him to the inferno raging just feet from his baby’s bedroom, that the blaze could have ended in tragedy.

“This will kill us,” Mr Horwood admitted. “It came so close this time.

“I’m going to have to move because of this. It’s just become that bad.”

Speaking of when he was told about the fire, he said: “It was the scariest thing I have ever gone through. I was asleep and didn’t know what was going on. To then be dragged out of your home at 4am and told that your house is on fire was horrible. “

Mr Horwood added in recent months rotten meat ‘laced with rat poison’ had been thrown into his garden, in what he believes was a deliberate attempt to kill his dog.

Police are now investigating the attack – which they believe was deliberate – and are urging anyone who may have seen something suspicious to contact them.

Sergeant Ian Cheesman said: “This has been a very upsetting incident for the family, especially as they have two young children. If you have any information at all, please contact us.”

Witnesses or those with information should email [email protected] quoting serial 111 of 25/03, call 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.