ARSONISTS are suspected of torching two cars parked only inches from their owners' home.

Sue Seymour and Wendy Matthews said heat from the blaze was so intense they could feel it in the passage of their Copmanthorpe home.

Sue said: "I was in bed and heard crackling and came downstairs to see both cars alight.

"There were explosions and bits of car flying everywhere, and the heat at the front of the house was incredible.

"If we had gone to bed earlier we could have been asleep, and it could have been very different then. The heat was so intense it would have set the front of the house alight. It was too hot to get out of the front door."

The pair escaped into the back garden of the house, in Horseman Drive, while firefighters tackled the blaze.

They believe one car was deliberately set alight, and that the fire then spread to the other one parked next to it.

"One of our neighbours said they saw somebody running away," said Sue.

"We've been trying to think if we have any enemies, but I can't think of anyone. We just keep ourselves to ourselves and have never bothered anybody.

"I moved to Copmanthorpe eight years ago because it was such a quiet village, but it's been getting worse with vandalism and intimidating gangs of youths. You still wouldn't expect this though.

"We're so nervous now that we bolted the letter box closed last night, worried that whoever did it might come back."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire Service said: "This was definitely arson, and the police will be investigating it."

The incident was reported at 12.30am yesterday.

The cars, a Kia Pride and a Proton, are thought to have been worth more than £8,000.

"It's incredible that this sort of thing can happen," said Sue. "You might see it in some inner city estate, but you couldn't get much further removed from that than Copmanthorpe.

"We are nervous wrecks now. We can't sleep and we're just wondering who would have done something like this and whether they'll come back."

Updated: 15:13 Monday, February 18, 2002