A FAMILY tortured by thugs feared for their lives when their caravan was set alight.

Community worker Paul Tuffs and his family woke early yesterday to find their back garden alight.

Mr Tuffs' daughter, Amy, 19, heard a loud bang outside after returning from a night out on Sunday. At about 12.30am, she looked outside her bedroom window and was faced with roaring flames. She screamed and alerted the rest of the house and ran from the property.

Firefighters arrived within minutes and told them: "A few minutes longer and you could have been dead."

Damage to the caravan and two parked cars, as well as cracked windows and door frames of the house, is estimated at more than £20,000.

The long-running persecution of Mr Tuffs began more than five years ago when he joined forces with local authorities to rejuvenate the rundown Grangetown estate, near Middlesbrough.

Since then, the family of five have had a crossbow fired through a bedroom window, numerous cars damaged with baseball bats and bricks thrown through windows.

Mr Tuffs, whose eldest daughter, Vicky, 23, was left in intensive care after a teenager attacked her with an iron bar last September, said: "Someone will die next if nothing is done."

However, a Cleveland Police spokesman said: "There is nothing at this stage to link this with earlier incidents."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Constable Ian Cox, of South Bank CID, on (01642) 302626.