Before and after shots of the arson attack on Havey’s brand new sensory room (Picture: Wesley Ratcliff)

The parents of a seven-year-old boy with autism have been left heartbroken after arsonists set fire to the child’s brand new sensory room the night before he was due to receive it for Christmas.

Fiona and Wesley Ratcliff had spent the last few weeks filling their garden’s summer house with soft toys and lighting, padded flooring and a digital radio for their son Harvey, who has Phelan-McDermid syndrome.

However, the surprise gift, which was due to be revealed to Harvey on Christmas morning, was gutted by a fire.

The radio and disco lighting, which moves to music, were stolen before the room – in their garden in Woodhouse Park, near Stockport – was deliberately set alight.




The fire had even spread to a guinea pig hutch next to the summer house, police said, though luckily the animals were unharmed.

‘I woke up yesterday morning to switch the lights on to show him what he’d got him,’ Mr Ratcliff told Metro.

The location of the arson attack to the south of Manchester (Picture: Google)

‘Initially I thought it was just the guinea hutch and I was distraught that they’d even done it to them.

‘Somehow they’d managed to get out – whether they’d been let or out or escaped.

‘Harvey doesn’t understand what’s gone on.’

Mr Ratcliff said he believes the arsonists fled at 3am, and he did not discover the awful scene until 8am.

Detective inspector Jane Curran said: ‘This truly is heartbreaking.

‘The family, like every other family across Greater Manchester, were really looking forward to showing their son his Christmas present when they woke on Christmas Day. Whoever did this really has no morals whatsoever.

‘It is a disgusting and cowardly crime and I really would like anyone who may have seen anything or who has any information about this to contact us.

‘Thankfully we think that the weather overnight extinguished the fire, otherwise we may have been dealing with a much more serious incident.’

Anyone with information is being urged to contact officers on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.