Two charged with bus arson attack

Two men were charged yesterday with arson offences in connection with the firebombing of a bus used as a home by road protesters in Newbury, Berkshire. They have been bailed and are due to appear before magistrates in Newbury on 12 December.

The incendiary attack took place on Sunday morning as Jeremy Middleton, 34, his pregnant girlfriend, Amanda Rothwell, 25, and their six-year-old son slept in their bus in a lay-by at Reddings Copse, a small woodland on the route of the planned A34 bypass. Threats had previously been made against road protesters living in tree houses at the camp established there last month.