A MUM has told of her terror after her car was set alight in the early hours of the morning while her young children slept just metres away in the house.

Both Laura Henthorn and partner Mark Kavanagh lost their cars in the incident last Wednesday as residents on Station Road, Harwich, evacuated their properties amid fears they could catch fire.

A horrified Laura, 33, rushed into their children’s bedroom where the youngsters – aged six and three – were hiding in their beds.

She said she will never forget their terrified faces.

“I woke up to a strange popping and banging noise and could then hear the car horns going off,” she said.

“I opened the door to my children’s bedroom and it was like opening an oven, it was so hot. They were hiding in their beds.

Read more >> Residents flee from their homes as car fire risks properties burning down

“I couldn’t get close to the window as it was too hot, but I could see through a gap in the curtains the whole of my car was in flames – you couldn’t even see the car itself anymore.

“I then went into a panic – I didn’t know what to do. I rang 999, but they had already arrived on scene and so I called my mum and was crying and screaming down the phone, it was all a bit of a blur.

“I grabbed the kids’ dressing gowns and we left out the back of the house with my little dog too.

“I was screaming. My kids were so scared – I’ll never forget their little faces.

“My eldest boy has been having nightmares and my youngest was so worried about his lunch box left in the car.”

Mark said the children were “traumatised” by the incident and still can’t bring themselves to sleep in their own bedroom.

Laura added: “This past week has been so stressful.

“I don’t feel safe and I’m worried for other people in case it happens to them.

“I’ve been through every emotion – angry that someone has done this, upset for my kids as the car had their scooters and coats inside, and annoyed that the police might not find out who did this and why.

“My house has a burnt front door and all the windows are cracked because of how hot it was.

“It could have been so much worse – my children were asleep in that front bedroom.”

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed inquiries are now ongoing into the incident.