POLICE and fire officers believe an arsonist could have started a blaze which forced a mother and child to flee their Darwen home last night.

Janet Page, 33, and her 10-year-old son Lee James Jackson escaped from their home in Meadow Gate after the fire started in the ground floor bedroom at 9pm.

Inspector Stuart Coates from Blackburn police said: "The fire brigade believe that the fire could probably have been caused by a person but we are still investigating."

The alarm was raised from a neighbour's home and the blaze wrecked the ground floor bedroom and smoke damaged the rest of the house.

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