A SCHOOLGIRL has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a huge blaze ripped through a historic manor house.
Cops arrested a 14-year-old girl after the fire at Grade-I listed Woolton Hall in Liverpool on August 19.
EPAFlames rise from Woolton Hall in Liverpool[/caption]
PAThe 321-year-old manor house was gutted by the blaze[/caption]
EPAFire crews rushed to the manor house as it went up in flames[/caption]
Emergency services scrambled to the scene amid reports that a large group of youths had been spotted in the grounds at around 8.20pm.
The 321-year-old manor house was gutted by the blaze, and police arrested the schoolgirl the next day.
She was taken into custody to be questioned and has been conditionally bailed.
The site, built in 1704, had previously served as a hotel, an army hospital, a convent and a school but had fallen into disrepair in recent years.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) rushed to the scene at around 8.15pm, finding the three-storey stone-built building “fully involved in [a] fire around 40 by 30 metres in size”.
By 9.30pm, MFRS had eight fire engines at the scene, as well as an aerial appliance in attendance.
The building had become “well alight” and the roof had “collapsed”, MFRS said.
Merseyside Police’s Detective Inspector Daniel McWhinnie said: “This appears to have been an extremely reckless act at a historic building that has stood at the site for hundreds of years.
“We know the community will be rightly shocked by what happened and we are determined to find all those responsible.
“We received reports of youths congregating near the hall shortly before the fire was reported, and we would appeal to anyone who was there or knows who was there to contact police.
“If you are a parent or guardian in the area and your child was out that night, we ask that you enquire about their movements and what they might know.
“If you were driving in the area of Speke Road on Tuesday evening and captured anything on dashcam that you think in hindsight may be useful to our enquiries, please get in touch.
“We are carrying out a number of lines of enquiry, including speaking to potential witnesses and assessing CCTV in the area, but I would ask for anyone who knows anything to contact us as soon as possible.”
The site had previously been hit by another devastating fire in 2019 – which was treated as an arson attack by police.
It was then added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register as a Category A site two years later.
This category defines a structure as being at an “immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric”.
EPAFirefighters work at the scene of a blaze at Woolton Hall in Liverpool[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
