A Inverness pensioner has claimed he is the victim of a escalating campaign of terror by local youths after his shed was burned to the ground.
Alan Dow, who lives with his son in the city’s Westhill area, has had a number of windows and patio doors smashed during the past six weeks.
The windscreen of his car was also broken in another attack.
Last night, the 72-year-old grandfather said he feared his house could be torched next if police do not catch the hooligans responsible.
It is understood a gallon-sized tin of paint thinner was used to concoct a petrol bomb, which was thrown into the shed on Tuesday night.
Mr Dow said he had just arrived at his single-storey detached bungalow in Easter Muckovie Lane when his son Stephen, 40, rushed out to tell him there was smoke coming from the structure.
A neighbour had called the house to alert him to the blaze.
Two fire crews from Inverness went to the scene at 8.35pm and remained there for two hours before they managed to fully extinguish the blaze.
Mr Dow said: “It’s in daylight that these guys have struck in the past and my concern now, given that it’s escalated from breaking windows and patio doors to torching the place, is that my son will be inside sleeping and the house will end up being burnt to the ground.
“The shed was absolutely gutted. I have lived here for 40 years and there has been no problem before. Now I feel like a prisoner in my own home.”
Mr Dow added that he had heard stones being thrown against his boarded up windows while he was sitting in his living room last Thursday, and that when he went outside he saw three youths wearing hooded tops in the adjacent field.
No one from the police was available for comment yesterday.