Loose Women star Denise Welch has told of the terrifying moment she thought she would be burned alive by a maniac stalker who set fire to her house while she was in bed.
Terrified Denise was forced to flee with her artist husband Lincoln Townley as the blaze told hold of her her £1million home.
House fire attack
She told The Sun: “We thought he was trying to kill us. It was terrifying. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
“We had been to the pub for dinner and I had gone to bed early, about 10pm, leaving Lincoln with his son, Lewis and my brother-in-law Duncan, downstairs watching a boys’ film, volume turned up full blast as boys tend to do.
“Suddenly, I heard Lincoln screaming. I ran downstairs in my pyjamas and saw huge sprawling flames outside the house.”
“The fire brigade were very prompt but for anybody who’s ever waited for them, they’ll know that the wait seems like forever.
“They said if they hadn’t turned up when they did, without a doubt it could have been a disaster.”
Her ordeal began in September 2020 and only ended this month when deranged arsonist Toraq Wyngard was jailed for seven years and seven months nearly eight months after admitting charges of stalking and arson.
He was arrested hours later after the couple checked their home’s CCTV footage on Lincoln’s mobile phone.
It showed Wyngard, a former Burberry model, creeping around the house in Wilmslow, Cheshire, before using a fluid to start the fireball.
After Wyngard was arrested police found he was carrying a four-inch knife.
Read more: Denise Welch issues statement on ‘horrible time’ a stalker pleads guilty
Denise Welch ‘grateful’
Denise, 63, said: “Lincoln immediately scoured the footage on his phone and before I knew it (he) had given chase to the man and ran into the graveyard opposite. Thank God he didn’t catch him.”
When Denise checked his social media she was horrified to see one picture with Wyngard stood next to an unsuspecting Denise.
She said: “We saw that I appeared in one photo at a Manchester City charity run, and obviously handed over all our CCTV footage (to police).
“Who knows what would have happened otherwise?”
Wyngard, of Salford, Greater Manchester, had been to the house earlier in the year.
A garden gate was damaged and graffiti daubed branding Denise a “witch” and “pimp” with a sinister upside-down cross.
Denise added: “This man tried to destroy my wonderful life. I’m just so grateful he is now behind bars.”
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