New Dream Home Destroyed in Arson - Mistaken Identity

I am fundraising on behalf of Maria & her young family who have just bought their first dream home after living in 11 houses after 14 years of renting.

They have been left devastated after their new home was targeted in an arson attack which police believe is a case of mistaken identity hours after they collected their keys.

It was reported that liquid was poured through the letterbox of the home and set alight, with damage caused to the property. Thankfully no one was inside at the time.

The young couple collected the keys of their property on Thursday and had returned to the property on Friday to find the street cordoned off and their new home wrecked following the blaze. The new owner of the property said that she hopes whomever targeted the house realises that her family are not the people they think they are targeting.

"We picked our keys up at three o'clock on Thursday and we've been renting for 14 years.It was just the most absolutely perfect house we've ever seen," she said.

"We got the keys and brought both sets of our parents and our kids, who we had kept it a surprise from, to see the house.

"It was literally like the stuff of fairy tales. Everyone was saying that we really deserve this as we had a cancer scare a few weeks back with my son and we have just been through so much. The kids were over the moon."

Maria said that it was just by "sheer luck" that the weather was bad and they decided to go back to their rented accommodation for the night. Otherwise, her family could have been in the house at the time of the blaze.

The family now returned to their rented property and now face having to pay both rent and mortgage until their new home is liveable. Their three young children are waiting on Santa coming in a few weeks which puts the couple in an unbearable position.

Maria paid the previous owner £2000 for furniture in the home which is now destroyed.

Please donate whatever you can to help this poor family.

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/family-devastated-fairy-tale-new-30435862