A distraught mother has spoken of her heartache after her five-year-old son set fire to his bedroom following months of racist abuse.

Little Marvin Travis, the mother-of-nine's only black child, took a lighter to his bunk bed after the hate campaign, which has seen him too scared to leave his home, became too much.

Now Sandra Travis, of Priness Drive, High Woods, Colchester, has spoken out in the hope making their plight public will help stamp out the bullying.