Police probe car fire near BNP list man's home

Police were investigating today after a car was set on fire near the house of a man whose details were published on a leaked BNP membership list.

Firefighters and police officers were called to the blaze on Eighth Avenue, in Windy Bank, Liversedge, West Yorkshire, at 10.40pm last night.

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The targeted car was parked outside a house next door to the man whose name was published on the list but who is not a member of the BNP.

Speaking at the scene today, David Exley, Kirklees organiser for the BNP, said: "I spoke to the police this morning and they confirmed that a car has been firebombed last night and one of the lines of inquiry is the person who lives next door to whose car it was is on the list on the internet.

"I can confirm that the gentleman, whose house the car was outside, is not a member of the BNP and is not a current supporter of the BNP."

Mr Exley said that, while the man's name was included on the list, the BNP had no members on Eighth Avenue.

"That list covers everybody who has ever contacted our head office for whatever reason," he said.

"It could be this man got an information pack, looked at it, decided it's not for him and thrown it away.

"But unfortunately somebody has irresponsibly put this list on the internet."

The only BNP councillor on the local council, Roger Roberts, who lives a couple of miles from where the incident happened, said he believed the fire was not connected to the publication of the list.

Mr Roberts, who represents Heckmondwike on Kirklees Council, said: "That kind of thing is a regular occurrence on that estate. It could be drug dealers or anybody. Even the buses have stopped going through there because they get bricks thrown at them.

"The car doesn't even belong to a BNP member."

Neighbours in the street spoke about the moment they heard the explosion outside their homes.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said the car belonged to her female next-door neighbour and she did not know the man named on the BNP list.

Describing the moment she heard the explosion, she said: "I was just nodding off and just heard this boom. I looked out of the window and the car was on fire.

"My kids slept through it so I got them up, we jumped out of the back and ran.

"I honestly thought it was my house. I thought someone had thrown something through my window."

She added: "There was nothing left of the car.

"The roof was blown off, the windscreen was blown off, there were bits of car in my garden and bits of car in next door's garden."

The woman said she did not believe the incident was connected to the BNP list.

She said: "As far as I know, that's a load of rubbish.

"You get stuff like this all the time on estates, although it's normally all right here."

Andrew Purdy, who also lives on Eighth Avenue, said he was watching television when he heard the explosion.

"I looked outside and couldn't see anything except black smoke.

"There were flames coming out of the car."

Describing the car, which he believed was a Peugeot 206, Mr Purdy said: "It was like a baked bean can, splattered all over.

"The windscreen was in front of my house."

Today, eight houses on Eighth Avenue were cordoned off by police tape.

A uniformed police officer stood by the cordon at either end of the road while scenes of crime officers, wearing white suits and masks, examined the area.

The only sign of the car was a charred patch on the road and path outside one of the red brick semi-detached houses and shards of glass scattered across the road.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said no-one was hurt in the incident.

Asked about the proximity of the attack to the house of the man on the BNP list, he said: "The cause of the damage and any potential motive all form part of the current investigation."

Thousands of BNP supporters were named on the list, which was leaked on an internet blog.

The list, which was removed from the original blog where it was posted, but remains available on other websites, names a number of current and former servicemen, along with ex-policemen.

BNP members first blamed former party staff for the leak, but later took the line that it was a plot hatched by Labour supporters.

Leader Nick Griffin pledged to take court action against those behind the leak, but he welcomed the wave of publicity which has been generated.