A MOTORCYCLE enthusiast from Clayton-le-Moors has described the moment he realised an arsonist had torched his beloved bikes.

Fire ripped through a lean-to attached to the back of a terraced house in Maple Street after an accelerant was poured in, police said.

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The blaze wrecked three full-sized motorbikes and a mini-motor bike planned as a Christmas present, and damaged the house and neighbouring property.

Nobody has been arrested so far, police said yesterday.

David Stuart was inside with his disabled partner Anne Mitchell when he noticed the flames, at 11.30pm on Saturday, October 25.

The 57-year-old said: “We were in the house watching TV and we heard and saw it. I’m still angry and upset. It’s a bit of a shock but we both managed to get out.”

Mr Stuart said the bikes, a Honda, Suzuki, and Triumph, were worth between £7,000 and £10,000. The mini-motor, a Harley Davidson ‘copy’, was bought for Anne’s grandson for Christmas.

Only the Triumph, which Mr Stuart rode regularly, was insured, he said.

Mr Stuart, who has been a bike fanatic for more than 30 years, has lived in Maple Street for around 18 months.

He said: “It’s a lovely, quiet street. The fire was deliberate but whether it was random or not I can’t say. Somebody somewhere knows something.”

Detective Inspector Nikki Bithell, from Lancashire Police’s eastern division CID, said it was lucky nobody was killed in the fire, and said officers were treating the attack ‘very seriously’.

She said: “The ferocity of the fire could have seen the whole street alight. The consequences could have been fatal.”

A window at the property was damaged, and the kitchen suffered some smoke damage.

Witnesses in that area at that time, who saw anything suspicious, can call police on 101, using log number LC-20141026-0043.

Information can be reported anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.