A NEWPORT family say they are too scared to get belongings from their Newport home after it was set alight by arsonists.

Since the fire in Dolphin Street, Pill, on January 5, Sharon Davies has been back once to collect undamaged items, but says she was threatened and spat at by a group of youths.

Ms Davies, 42, and her sons, Wesley, 13, and Shane, 14, were left homeless by the ground-floor blaze, which investigators said was arson after fires were started at several points inside the home.

Police have questioned three youths about the fire but no charges have been brought.

She said: "After the fire we brought a van to collect some clothes and items, and they were jumping all over the van.

"We were spat at and they threatened to burn my boyfriend, Adrian Morgan, with oil.

"We still have some things to pick up but are too scared to go down there. "The house is all boarded up and we are not going back for the safety of our children."

Since the fire Sharon has moved with her two sons from her rented home in Dolphin Street to her father's house in another area of Newport. She said that a youth had told her just days before the fire that her house "was going to go boom".

Sharon said a lot of items inside the house were damaged by smoke and fire, but added some clothes and other utensils were still usable.

Detective Constable Mike Thomas, from Pill CID, said extensive house-to-house inquiries were carried out at homes in Dolphin Street, but there were no witnesses, and there was not enough evidence gathered to charge the teenage suspects.

He said the trio arrested on suspicion of arson were not among those alleged to have threatened and abused the family when they returned to their Dolphin Street home.