THREE people have been arrested after a double arson attack which badly damaged an historic Bury church.

The blaze tore through the disused St Paul's Church in Parsonage Street, sending flames shooting into the sky, on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, a separate arson attack destroyed pews and wooden flooring inside the main building.

Residents living near to the church said that several people had been seen throwing fireworks into the building.

The second blaze was spotted at 9.50pm. At its height, around 40 firefighters tackled the flames. Because of the intense heat, they were forced to fight the fire from behind a fence which surrounds the boarded-up Grade Two listed building.

Flames could be seen against the night sky from several miles away as they burned through the roof and into the tower, which was dramatically lit.

Debris from the collapsed roof fell into the main church area but officers stopped the huge blaze from engulfing the tower.

Seven fire appliances and an emergency salvage tender were deployed at the scene. Firefighters had the blaze under control within an hour.

Station Officer Roy Grundy, from Bury Fire Station, said: "A lot of the building has gone, including all of the roof. The roof collapsed inwards but the tower is still standing. The fire was very severe when we arrived and spread from the front of the church towards the tower.

"There was a fence around the building and for safety reasons, we adopted a safety mode and put water into the church from outside. It was too dangerous to go into the building itself."

Nearby Wash Lane, Bell Lane and St Paul's Street were closed to traffic for several hours. Firefighters were at the scene for most of Monday.

On Monday, Bury Police confirmed that three people had been arrested in connection with the fire. They have yet to be interviewed.

St Paul's Church, which was declared redundant nine years ago, was built between 1838 and 1842 and is the third oldest in Bury.

Last year, Bury Council's executive agreed to support private sector development proposals for the conversion of the church to residential use. Councillors said this would allow emergency repairs to be carried out as the first stage of the building's conversion to flats.