MOTORHOMES worth about £300,000 have been destroyed in a suspected arson attack on a family-run business.

Seven were destroyed and a further five were heat damaged after a large blaze at Elite Motorhomes, Thorpe Road, Middleton Cheney, near Banbury.

The fire started in the sales yard at about 11.40pm on Tuesday night.

Fire crews from Banbury, Hook Norton and Northamptonshire stopped it spreading to other motorhomes and a nearby petrol station. A police forensic team and Fire Service dogs sifted through the wreckage on Wednesday and found a hole in the fence surrounding the sales yard, which backs on to a field.

Director Paul Maynard said a customer who lives behind the site spotted the fire and called his father Peter, Elite’s owner.

He said: “We do not really know what happened. A hole in the fence was discovered and it looks fairly new so the intruders could have come through there.

“No-one is saying yet whether it was vandals or what. It is horrible someone can do that. It is devastating, but what can you do? We have got to get on and get it sorted “It is awful, but we are insured.”

Mr Maynard said about 70 motorhomes were usually in the yard but 20 had been taken to the Stratford Motorhome Show.

Anyone with information should call police on 03000