A SUPSECTED arson attack in Cullompton is under investigation following a fire in a block of flats last week.

Scene of crime officers visited the flat on the St Andrews Estate, which was left badly damaged on Friday (January 2), by a blaze just after midnight.

Fire crews from Cullompton and Tiverton attended were called to the building at four minutes past midnight, with police arriving on the scene shortly after.

A sofa inside the flat, which was next to an unlocked window on the ground floor, was set alight while the man living there was out.

The living room of the flat in the end terrace two-storey building was severely damaged by fire and the rest of the house was filled with smoke.

The cause of the fire is yet to be established.