A NEWSAGENT spoke today of how he and his wife were saved by their dog after a firebomb attack on their flat.Bonaventure Vas, who runs NLM Newsagents in Holbrook, said his Jack Russel, Bowie, saved their lives by alerting them to the flames.

A NEWSAGENT spoke today of how he and his wife were saved by their dog after a firebomb attack on their flat.

Bonaventure Vas, who runs NLM Newsagents in Holbrook, said his Jack Russel, Bowie, saved their lives by alerting them to the flames.

Mr Vas and his wife, Tessy, were sleeping soundly in their flat above, on Monday night, when the dog woke them barking loudly.

Mr Vas, 56, got up to investigate and was horrified to see flames at the bottom of the stairs near the front door.

He said: "Someone had set light to a bottle of paraffin and pushed it through the letterbox. I ran down the stairs and managed to stamp out the flames. It was a premeditated attack, someone has got something against us."

The disturbance began at around midnight on Monday when the dog began to bark. Mr Vas woke up and checked out the whole of the building, including the shop, but found nothing.

He went back to bed, but Bowie started barking again soon after. Mr Vas eventually discovered the fire at around 1am.

He said: "I got up again and saw some light. I thought I must have left a light on when I got up the last time but then the smoke alarms went off and I realised there was a fire."

Mr Vas managed to put the fire out before it spread to the rest of the building and hundreds of pounds worth of stock nearby. He then tackled a smaller one outside caused by spilled burning paraffin.

He added: "If Bowie had not woken us so soon the fire would have been much worse before we had even realised it a was happening. Another time we might not have been so lucky.

"It must have been someone local as they specifically targeted the flat rather than the shop."

Although they were both uninjured, Mr Vas says his wife is very shocked and scared by the incident.

The couple have been at the shop for eight years and although they were robbed in their first year nothing like this has happened since.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said: "The arson will be investigated, but at this stage there is nothing to suggest it racially motivated."

Anyone with information should contact Capel St Mary police on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.