No breakthrough in double arson probe

Staff at The Mermaid told police they say three young people running off shortly before the fire alarm went off at the bar and restaurant complex on Sunday, December 8. But investigating officer Detective Constable Richard Laws says they were unable to give police any accurate descriptions.

Police and firefighters found that an incendiary device had been thrown through the window of the conservatory projecting in front of the bar. The 107 flats in the Sackville complex above the bar are mainly occupied by elderly people.

Firefighters managed to contain the fire to the conservatory but the bar was heavily smoke-damaged. The functions room was unaffected and all Christmas and New Year bookings were honoured.

Police also said this week that no progress had been made with their probe into the attack on George's Pet Food Shop in Sackville Road, gutted along with the adjoining extension to a beauty parlour in a petrol bomb attack on November 29.