A CHILDREN’S charity is among the victims of a suspected serial arsonist causing wanton destruction in a Harrow neighbourhood.

Kids Can Achieve, which supports youngsters with behavioural conditions, had not long moved into its renovated home at Cedars Hall in Chicheley Gardens, Harrow Weald, when a deliberate fire was set.

It was the first of eight seemingly indiscriminate arson attacks on cars, skips and garages in the Uxbridge Road area of Harrow Weald, revealed this week by investigating Harrow CID.

Operations manager of the charity, Pam Lee, said the charity has given CCTV footage to the police which shows a person near the fence, then pulling something out of his pocket.

She said: “He lights what looks like a Molotov cocktail and throws it over the fence. Some rubbish that had been left outside was set on fire. It went up with a real whoosh and the heat of the flames cracked a door and caused the soffits of the roof to warp.

“The flames died down fairly quickly so he went to the corner of the fence and somehow manages to get through and relights the bundle with a lighter. He then realises he is being filmed and pulls his jacket up over his face.”

She added: “You can tell from the images how much he enjoys watching the flames. You really can see he was relishing it. We were quite distressed because we thought we may have been targeted.”

The building was being refurbished ahead of the charity’s relocation from Pinner Green, Pinner, when it was set on fire on Thursday, January 12. It opened a week later as planned, however, Kids Can Achieve has to find up to £1,000 to repair the damage.

Detective Inspector Nigel Burnell said: “These arsons are linked by location and time and the fact that motor vehicles and skips have been targeted. All eight arsons have happened in the Uxbridge Road area of Harrow Weald and have been reported in the early hours of the morning. We are releasing a CCTV image of a man we would like to speak to in connection with one of the arsons.”

Police confirmed that a blaze broke out overnight on Sunday evening at Harrow East Conservative Association in Headstone Lane, Harrow. It is not being investigated as part of the same spree, though it is being treated as suspicious.

The suspected arson attacks being linked by police:

* A blaze set in a residential garage block in Carrington Square at 2.25am on Sunday, March 11, destroying a grey VW Polo, damaging a black Honda Civic and four garages.

* A skip fire in Langton Road, Harrow, at 2.45am, on Wednesday, March 7

* A silver BMW convertible burned out on Friday, March 2, in Bellfield Avenue and a blue Mercedes damaged by the heat

* A skip fire outside a house in Chicheley Gardens, at 1.55am, on Sunday, February 26

* A blue BMW Mini Cooper on fire discovered by police in Mepham Gardens, at 2am, on Wednesday, February 22Y

* A blue Suzuki Vitara, in Hutton Lane, at 2.20am, on Friday, February 17

* A white Ford Sprinter van in Hutton Gardens, between 1.30pm on Friday, January 27, and 3.15pm the following day

* Kids Can Achieve, Chicheley Gardens, on Thursday, January 12

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.