"THEY could have killed me." Those were the words of a terrified victim, whose home was set alight by arsonists as he slept.

Philip Nicholson, of Alcuin Avenue, York, woke at about 6am on Tuesday to see firefighters putting out a blaze in his wheelie bin, which had been pushed up against his front door.

The 47-year-old gardener said he had been the victim of a seven-year hate campaign at the hands of local yobs - but the attacks have now become more serious, with two attempts to burn down his house in a week.

He said: "I have suffered seven years of abuse from youngsters in the area. It's been absolutely horrendous.

"My windows are still boarded up from where they have been smashed repeatedly in the past, so if they'd set fire to my house, I'd have had no way out.

"Over the years, I've been attacked, had bricks thrown at me and my house has been repeatedly vandalised.

"But now they are resorting to arson.

"I've reached the end of the road. It's just a nightmare situation."

He said he was now living in fear after someone had tried to set fire to his garage door and his front door a week earlier.

Fortunately, Mr Nicholson's front door was only slightly damaged, thanks to the quick actions of the fire service.

The Press told in May, 2001, how the attacks against Mr Nicholson had become so frequent that he was reporting at least one incident a month to police.

He even had his car burned out on his front drive.

He said: "My house wouldn't look out of place in Palestine. It's absolutely decimated."

Four of his windows were smashed by yobs throwing stones in April, 2003, and another window was broken in the early hours a week later.

One month after that, a foot-long slab of stone was thrown through an upstairs window.

He said he had been targeted simply because he is a single man living alone, and local youths had shouted "pervert" at him.

He estimates that his windows have been smashed more than 30 times - so now he leaves them boarded up.

He said: "The worst thing is, I have known in the past who is doing the damage - but I have been unable to do anything about it.

"I want people to know what is happening to me because it has been going on for so long and I'm afraid that something more serious could happen."

Mr Nicholson said police had not done enough to help, but a police spokesman said the allegations were taken seriously.

An investigation into the two arson attacks in ongoing.


Arsonists strike on a night of terror in York

ARSONISTS torched three cars and a warehouse in a night of terror in York.

The warehouse, next to the Nestle factory in Haxby Road, was set alight at about 10.45pm, on Tuesday.

The blaze started in an office, which suffered five per cent fire damage, but the smoke caused 30 per cent damage to the rest of the building.

Two fire engines from York were sent to the incident and firefighters revisited the premises yesterday to continue their investigation.

At about 11.10pm, arsonists set fire to a Peugeot 307 in Avenue Road, in the Kingsway area. There was some damage to the seats.

Half-an-hour later, a red Nissan Micra was set alight in nearby Bede Avenue. It was totally burned out, suffering 100 per cent fire damage. One crew attended each of the car fires.

Then, at 1.28am, there was a fourth arson attack on a Peugeot 106 in a car park at Askham Bogs.

It was destroyed by the blaze and firefighters had to spend 45 minutes getting it under control.

A fire service spokesman said the cause of all four blazes was believed to be deliberate.

He said it was not known if the incidents were linked.