Relatives devastated at school playground arson attack (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Relatives devastated at school playground arson attack

A BROTHER and sister who suffer from a rare allergy to sunlight have been left devastated after a suspected arson attack at their school left a wooden playhouse in ruins.

The playhouse formed part of a wooden playground designed in the shape of a train at Paternoster School, in Watermoor Road in Cirencester.

The 15 metre by 15 metre house, wooden fencing and a seat built round the base of a nearby tree were destroyed in the blaze at about 9pm on Sunday.

A section of guttering on a classroom was also melted in the fire, which caused between £3,000 and £5,000 of damage and required two fire crews to tackle the flames for 20 minutes.

Aiden Spencer, ten, and his sister Leah, nine, who both suffer from Porphyria (EPP), used the building as a place to play and be near other children playing at the school.

They are the only two children registered in the UK with the EPP strain of the condition, said their mum Lynn.

If they are exposed to sunlight for any length of time their skin will blister, their hair and nails fall out and their liver could be damaged.

The playhouse was the only outdoor part of the school they could use to play in.

Mrs Spencer said: "That house was extremely important to them. I can't imagine what Aiden is going through. For whatever reason it was done it's very nasty.

"The wooden house has been there for as long as my children have been there, which is about seven to eight years.

"That's why it was there in the first place, to give my two somewhere to go.

"It's just devastating really and I'm very angry."

The school's deputy headteacher Vicki Ponsford said of the fire: "It seems sad that people could do that kind of thing to deprive these children of the use of a playground that they have been looking forward to using. It seems so unnecessary."

The £15,000 for the new apparatus was raised and donated by the Gloucestershire Regional Committee of the Wooden Spoon Society, a charity for disadvantaged young people.

The house was incorporated into the new play area, which was only opened on Friday by members of the Gloucestershire committee, including its president Lord Apsley.

A police spokesman said the fire was being treated as suspicious and anyone with information should contact them on 0845 0901234.