Elderly couple rushed to hospital after 'home is petrol bombed' as police go house-to-house in arson probe
2 September 2022, 07:49
An elderly couple has been taken to hospital after a their home was "petrol bombed".
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A fire broke out at their house in Liverpool early on Thursday as they slept. They suffered injuries including smoke inhalation during the blaze.
Police have opened an arson investigation, and one eyewitness said they believed a "petrol bomb" started the fire in Old Swan – the same area where 28-year-old Ashley Dale was murdered just days ago.
"It's terrible that this couple were in bed and this happens. They are an elderly couple," the unnamed onlooker said.
"The police are walking around and they have a unit set up round the back. Police are doing a house to house later."
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A Merseyside Police spokesman said: "At around 3.20am officers were called to a report of a fire at a property in the area. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service attended and extinguished the fire at an address on Dorien Road.
"A man and a woman were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and other injuries. Further reports and examinations have established that the fire was caused deliberately.
"A joint investigation between Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Police is ongoing and anyone with any information is asked to contact police."
Anyone with information can tell police by messaging them on Twitter via @MerPolCC or through the Facebook Merseyside Police Contact Centre with reference 22000649658. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
It comes after a 27-year-old man was arrested in connection with the murder of Ms Dale, a council worker, in the Old Swan area.
She was found just shortly after midnight on Sunday August 21, having been shot. She died later in hospital.
A man had previously been arrested on suspicion of her murder, a woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a third man was arrested on suspicion of murder and possession of a firearm, the force said.
Police in Merseyside are continuing to investigate the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel and the killing of Sam Rimmer, in a wave of violence across Liverpool.
