ARSONISTS were today blamed for causing more than £4,000 worth of damage at an Ipswich church hall .A car, believed to have been dumped in Whitton Church Lane last night, was set on fire at around 9.

ARSONISTS were today blamed for causing more than £4,000 worth of damage at an Ipswich church hall .

A car, believed to have been dumped in Whitton Church Lane last night, was set on fire at around 9.30am today.

The fire spread to Whitton church hall, scorching the brickwork, smashing the windows, melting guttering and causing severe smoke damage inside.

The red two-door car was burnt beyond recognition. It was parked outside the building and stood on dried up foam from where two fire engines had tackled the blaze.

Rector Geoffrey Baulcomb said: "This happens all the time. Cars are dumped here regularly each month.

"We push them away from the hall to prevent this happening, but on this occasion we didn't get there in time. It was probably caused by younger children."

Two children aged around 16 were seen running from the scene to the nearby housing estate shortly after the blaze started.

Police confirmed they were treating the incident as suspicious.

Residents of Whitton Church Lane has recently complained to the police about problems in the area – as well as abandoned cars being set on fire there has also been a spate of burglaries in the area.

Today's fire was tackled by crews from Ipswich who were on the scene for almost 90 minutes.