TRIALS due to take place at York Crown Court today have been cancelled following an arson attack on the building.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs, responsible for running the court service, said court staff had contacted all the jurors due to take part in scheduled trials for today - the first working day there after the holidays - telling them not to turn up.

Shorter hearings were being transferred to York Magistrates' Court.

York Police arrested two men in their mid-20s on suspicion of arson - one from Harrogate the other from Bewerley in Nidderdale - after they were found sitting in a car outside the court at about 6am yesterday. The pair were quizzed by detectives at York Police Station and later released on bail pending further inquiries.

A police spokesman said they had yet to confirm exactly how the blaze was started, but they are looking at the possibility that petrol or some other flammable liquid was used.

The Evening Press reported yesterday how firefighters fought for more than two hours to save the Grade I Listed Building at the Eye of York, after the entrance hall and reception area were deliberately set alight at about 2.40am.

Ten other rooms on the ground floor suffered 25 per cent smoke damage and a further ten on the first floor suffered 20 per cent smoke damage.

Updated: 10:33 Tuesday, January 04, 2005