Extensive damage was said to have been done to the inside of the property, and four people were treated for smoke inhalation

Cllr Donnelly has said: “This is a truly appalling incident and those responsible must be robustly condemned. There is no place in our community for such utterly reckless behaviour, and my thoughts are with the family who are now left to pick up the pieces.

“The residents of Winters Grove, and the broader Hospital Road area, have absolutely no interest in such senseless criminality. We can only be thankful nobody was seriously hurt, but given the scale of the damage done to the property, its clear that that could easily not have been the case.

“I would urge anyone with any information that may be useful to the PSNI in their investigations to get in touch with them, or report it anonymously via Crimestoppers.”