JIMMY DAVIS

Five-year-old boy Jimmy Davis, whose parents are under siege from teenage yobs, set fire to his bedroom in the hope that it would destroy his home and get the family rehoused elsewhere.

He started the fire by setting the curtains alight in the bedroom where he"d cowered in fear when thugs had tormented his father Sydney and thrown stones and bricks at the house.

His mother Pauline Davis, 43, said: "We keep speaking to him asking him why he did it and he said "because I want to move, mum".

"That"s what he told the police - he'd done it because he wants daddy and mummy to move. Jimmy is scared to go outside because of all the youths that hang around on the estate.

"He burnt the bedroom down because he wants to move and he wants to move because those kids throw stones at the windows. It"s been a living nightmare for us and for Jimmy."

Jimmy found the lighter downstairs on Saturday afternoon and after starting the fire shut the bedroom door and ran out of the back of the house in Swindon.

His mother returned home a few minutes later and spotted smoke billowing from the upstairs window.

She rushed in and alerted her husband and son Peter, seven, and they safely fled the house before dialling 999.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze before it spread to the rest of the house but the belongings in his room were destroyed.

All the children’s toys are either blackened or unsalvagable and the family are currently all sleeping in one bedroom.

The Davis family have been plagued by gangs of youths which led to the incident where Mr Davis confronted them outside their home last July.

Their house had come under a hail of sticks, mud and eggs when a brick was thrown through the glass of their back door.

After waiting two hours for the police to arrive, Mr Davis ran outside and grabbed a piece of wood from a disused sofa in their back garden and chased the youths away.

But at that moment the police arrived - and arrested him for possessing an offensive weapon. He appeared in court but the charges were eventually dropped.

Since then the attacks have intensified and the Davis family and their neighbours frequently come under attack.

Mr Davis, a retired builder, said: 'Something needs to be done to stop these kids. They are out there every night.

'This is an on-going thing. I have seen cars being damaged and windows being put through.

'One of my neighbours even had a seven-month-old baby in their kitchen when a brick came through the window. It showered glass across the baby's face.

'When these kids see the police they are off through the alleyways. The police have got no chance of catching them.'

But Mr Davis says local youths have been gloating since the blaze drama.

He said: 'All the local lads were round here laughing and joking, I told them it was no laughing matter, but they don't care.

'The police said they will find us accommodation but, the thing is, we can't leave. As soon as they knew we were out of the house the local kids would break in.' (Jimmy Davis)

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