5:24pm Monday 15th March 2010
By Alex Hayes
NEIGHBOURS of a Mill Hill family house targeted by arsonists say the attack has left them feeling “unsafe”.
The front door of the family home in Downhurst Avenue was doused with a flammable liquid and set alight in a daylight attack by two men.
None of the family was at home when the attack took place at about 3.50pm last Monday, but the front door was destroyed and the front of the building has been left blackened by smoke.
Luisa Quereshi, who lives next door to the house for 30 years, said she was in her living room when the fire was started.
She told the Times Series: “I heard some noise out the front so I came to see what was happening and two people told me to get out of the house.
“I looked and I could see flames at the front door next door, so I grabbed my bag and got out.
“It is scary someone could do something like this in broad daylight, it has left me feeling slightly unsafe. It's normally such a quiet road, I have never had any problems before.”
Minicab driver Ajmal Fakiri, who lives on the other side of the house, had just moved into the ground floor flat a week before the fire.
He said: “The first we knew of it was when a neighbour came knocking and told us to get out.
“We were watching the fire hoping it wouldn't spread to our new home, but the fire brigade got here quite quickly and had it under control. It's such a quiet road we do not know what happened here.”
Officers say they have so far been unable to establish a motive for the attack.
Anyone who may have seen the two men, who fled the scene in a silver new model Toyota Corolla to contact Detective Leon Goldman of Barnet CID on 0208 733 4595 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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