Loose Women's Denise Welch has opened up about how she feared she was going to be burned alive after a stalker set her home alight last year.
The 63-year-old had to flee from her £1million home that she shares with her husband Lincoln Townley after someone had set fire to a skip outside her house that quickly started to spread.
Speaking to The Sun, the ex-corrie star revealed that they thought the person responsible was trying to kill them.
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Denise said: “It was just terrifying. It doesn’t bear thinking about."
She continued: “I remember that we’d been to the pub that night for dinner, and I’d gone to bed early, at 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."
A woman who was driving past had seen the fire and knocked on the door to alert Denise's family inside.
The soap star continued: " Thank God she did because otherwise who knows if I would be here today. Lewis called 999, and at this point, I remember Lincoln jumping into my car and moving it out of the drive. Within seconds of him moving it, flames started spreading rapidly."
The fire service quickly arrived to get the situation under control whilst Denise and Lincoln checked their security footage to see the cause of the blaze.
CCTV footage revealed that a man, who we now know is Toraq Wyngard, had been outside the property before pouring fluid into the skip and setting it alight.
The footage was given to police who then arrested Wyngard the same night. When he was searched, he was found with a four-inch knife in his backpack.
Denise called the experience 'utterly terrifying' as they weren't sure if he was going to get released, had other people working for him or would continue to target her family.
The Loose Women panellist said: "It was utterly terrifying and for six months it completely changed the way I lived my life. All I could think was, ‘Why, why, why, why is he doing this to me and my family? What have I ever done to that man?’."
The mum-of-two admitted after that incident, she had nightmares, stopped sleeping and wasn't able to stop thinking about it.
She continued: "I’m not a nervy person by nature — I’d always felt safe in my own house — but when someone sets fire to your home, it changes you forever.”
Although he was arrested, he was then released and turned up at her home once again where he graffitied 'witch' and 'pimp' onto her gate with an upside-down cross.
In the end, Toraq admitted to criminal damage, arson, possession of a knife and stalking causing serious alarm or distress. Earlier this month he was jailed for seven years and seven months at Chester Crown Court.
Denise admitted she's not grateful he's behind bars and feels as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.
She continued: "Now I just need to try and look forward again and hope that more can be done now for the victims of stalking or the victims of arson.”
