A DISTRAUGHT couple have today told of their fears after an apparent arson attack at their Ipswich home.Dave and Neelima Wall said they are considering leaving their Wherstead Road home after the latest in a string of fires in their back garden.

A DISTRAUGHT couple have today told of their fears after an apparent arson attack at their Ipswich home.

Dave and Neelima Wall said they are considering leaving their Wherstead Road home after the latest in a string of fires in their back garden.

Mr Wall, who rents out washing machines, said his stock of 30 machines had been melted and ruined by the fires, the latest of which happened just after 7.15pm yesterday when firefighters were called to couple's back garden.

Mr Wall added: “About four years ago my shed and workshop got burnt out.

“Then in September they set fire to another shed.

“There have been lots of fires in this area.

“We've got to now think seriously about leaving this area, though I've lived in this house 20 years.”

Mrs Wall added: “It is a constant fear that there will be another attack.

“They take advantage of the darkness and the passage at the back of our house. It is sick. We're in danger.”

The fire in Wherstead Road was just one of a number of blazes in Suffolk overnight in a busy night for the fire service.

In one fire an elderly man needed to be treated for smoke inhalation after his first floor Needham Market flat became heavily smoke-logged.

Three fire crews were called to his home in Barking Road just before 11.15pm last night after an automatic fire alarm went off.

The fire is believed to have started in a rubbish bin in the kitchen and was under control half an hour later.

Earlier yesterday crews had also been called to a series of other fires.

At just before 3.30pm yesterday a wheelie bin fire broke out behind Chantry library in Hawthorn Drive spreading to a nearby garage. It was under control by about 3.40pm.

Two car fires also broke out in Ipswich within 20 minutes of each other. The first in Shackleton Road, off Felixstowe Road, at just before 6.30pm and Austin Street, off Belstead Road just before 6.50pm.

And just after 1.20am today there was another call to the junction of Milden Road and Lavenham Road in Ipswich to a hedge fire where two metres of hedgerow was alight. That was under control just after 1.30am.

Have you been a victim of an arson attack? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.