A HARWELL couple who lost their new caravan and workshop in a mystery blaze have warned householders to be vigilant about arsonists over Christmas.

Paul Tredrea, 53, and fiancée Mandy Hutt, 53, only bought the 25ft caravan in September, but watched in horror as 15ft flames engulfed it and spread to a neighbouring workshop.

The couple also lost valuable power tools, £3,500 of fishing tackle, and two Honda motorbikes inside a 320sq ft workshop. Mr Tredrea estimates the blaze caused £60,000 of damage.

They fear that whoever torched their property was also behind other incidents in the village that night.

Fire officers class the blaze as “of doubtful origin” and cannot rule out that it was caused by an electrical fault.

But in Harwell on the same night, a fence was set alight at the village hall on High Street, and windscreen wipers and wing mirrors were deliberately damaged on at least three cars in Church Lane.

Meanwhile, at 3.30am, Harwell newsagent Murali Gunrajah called the police after hearing voices outside his shop and feared people were trying to break in.

The couple woke up on Sunday at 1.15am after hearing voices outside the house. Surveying the damage, Mr Tredrea said yesterday: “I could see a light flickering on the ceiling, as if someone was outside with a torch.

“I opened the curtains to see flames 12 or 15ft high at the end of the garden.

“There was someone smashing on the door trying to wake us.”

Two fire engines from Didcot arrived to tackle the blaze, but it destroyed the new caravan and the neighbouring workshop, which lie 175ft from the couple’s home.

Mr Tredrea said: “We have lost a lot, and to me, someone has gone on the rampage through the village.

“By what has gone on in the village, it looks like we have had three or four kids got a bit high on drink, and we have ended up being their last victims on their trail round the village.”

To make matters worse, the blaze struck on Miss Hutt’s birthday on December 11.

Mr Tredrea added: “Mandy has borne the worst of it. On the Sunday she had a real meltdown and we had to call the doctor.

“We had two days off, and even now I am back at work she is calling me up every two hours because she is so worried. It has been really traumatic for her.”

He added: “Fortunately, being a reasonably sensible guy, I was fairly well insured, but we have got all the family over at Christmas and it does put a dampener on it.”

Thames Valley Police spokesman Chris Kearney said officers were linking the suspected arson attack, the criminal damage to the cars and the arson attack on the fence.

There was no trace, however, in police records of the incident at the shop.

Mr Kearney added: “We can confirm that a group of teenagers were seen at the scene of the arson attack on the fence the next day acting suspiciously, and this is a line of investigation we are following.”

Anyone with information about any of the incidents can call Thames Valley Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.