POLICE are investigating a series of fires that were started across Purbeck in March.

The force says these fire are likely to have been started by people on bikes or other vehicles and are appealing for anyone with dash cam footage to get in touch.

A barn was set on fire in the Wareham area at around 7.25pm on Sunday, March 9, which caused £30,000 worth of damage.

Police say this took place at Wytch Farm in Thrashers Lane, close to the Perrenco UK oil and gas site.

A further six fires were started in woodland and heathland in the surrounding area, but luckily the fire service extinguished the fires quickly, and no injuries were reported.

PC William Saunders said: “Fires such as these could have very easily got out of control and spread to a larger area, and so it was very fortunate that the fire service were able to put out these fires as quickly as they did.

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“Unfortunately, the fire to the barn has meant that the owners have incurred costs of over £30,000 to have it repaired, and we are continuing to investigate these incidents.

“We would appeal to anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the area to please contact us.

“We believe that the perpetrators may have been using a bike or vehicle when starting these fires, so I would ask anyone who was driving in the immediate area at the time this occurred to please review their dashcams to see if they have captured any footage which may aid our investigation.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset police on 101 using reference number 55250033691 or to make a report on the police website www.dorset.police.uk