The couple saw Ring doorbell footage that showed a fire being set close to their home in Bootle, Merseyside, after being alerted by their daughter while they were on holiday
A couple enjoying their Gran Canaria honeymoon were left “terrified” after they saw footage from their Ring doorbell camera back home.
The couple, who do not want to be named, had been enjoying dinner some 2,000 miles away when their daughter called them saying a fire had been started outside their home in Bootle, Merseyside. The mother said how a “strange man” had knocked on their door alerting her daughter that bin bags had been put outside the from the home for collection the next morning had been set on fire.
She claimed the fire was minutes away from setting the home ablaze and blocking her daughter’s “only exit” from the property. Merseyside Police confirmed it is investigating reports a bin was set on fire outside a house on Mildmay Road on December 10.
The incident was captured by a Ring doorbell camera and was shared with the Liverpool Echo. The mum told the outlet: “My wife and I were in Gran Canaria at the time celebrating our honeymoon as we never had one when we got married three years ago.
“My daughter, who is 19, had stayed at home with the dog and we were out for dinner when she rang me. She rang and I immediately panicked. She said a strange man had knocked on the door and said ‘do you know your bins are on fire.’
“A guy came along and helped her put it out, she was running back and forth with jugs of water to put the fire out. She called me and I had to get a friend to come over to help her and make sure she was OK.”
The family’s neighbour had a ring doorbell camera that captured the incident. The footage showed two young males who were seen walking up to the home before one of them takes what appeared to be a lighter from their pocket to use to set a bin bag on fire.
They were then seen running away from the scene as the fire erupted. Within minutes a large blaze could be seen on camera and a police car was also spotted driving past. The mum continued: “They set them on fire and the whole thing went up. My daughter was in the house and had the curtains closed so she didn’t know the fire was going outside.
“She only realised because a man walked past and said to her. If he didn’t knock and tell her she wouldn’t have known and our whole house could have gone up in flames. It was so close to our front door, if that man hadn’t knocked when he did she wouldn’t have had an exit from the property. It’s terrifying the thought of her being trapped in there, if it had been another few minutes our windows would have gone in.
“There are scorch marks on the door off the fire, the thought of her being trapped in there is awful. You hear of people doing these stupid things then next minute someone has died and to be thousands of miles away and know your child is in that situation is horrible, there was nothing I could do, I was trying to get a flight back.”
The mum said her daughter was left “terrified” by the incident before adding: “My daughter is panicking every time our bins go out now wondering what is going to happen, will they go up [in flames]? It seems to be happening all the time at the moment around here too. The night ours were set on fire somebody else’s down the street were too.”
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police told the outlet: “We were contacted on the evening of Tuesday 10 December to a report that a wheelie bin had been set alight outside a house on Mildmay Road in Bootle. There was no damage to the house and nobody was injured. Enquiries have been carried out.”
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or call 101 quoting reference 24001039820.
