Family Escape Arson Attack In Newtownards

A young family from Newtownards, County Down, managed to escape an arson attack on their home on Sunday morning.

A car was set alight just outside, causing burning fuel to run towards their house.

The fire service contained and put out the fire before it caused any damage to the family's home.

The incident happened in the Fairfield court area of Newtownards in the early hours of Sunday 07 October.

All the downstairs windows were also smashed in the attack.

A man in his 40's, a woman in her 30's and two young girls aged 11 and five were in the house at the time.

They all escaped injury but were left in shock.

Two individuals were seen fleeing the scene.

Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them on 101 quoting reference number 124 of 07 October.

Anger As Seven Cars Damaged In Same Street

A Belfast community worker has stressed his anger after seven cars on the same South Belfast street were damaged over the weekend.

The vehicles were targeted on both Friday and Saturday night on Blythe Street in Sandy Row.

Cars were dented, paint work scratched and the wing mirror of one car was pulled off.

Community worker at Belfast South Community Resources Trevor Greer has hit out at those responsible, according to Belfast Live.

"These people have worked hard to have a half decent car and need it to get to and from work," Trevor said.

"To have people think it's OK to wreck them for no reason is totally unacceptable."

Mr Greer also said that a male was seen acting suspiciously at around 1am on Saturday morning, and two people were seen running in the direction of Blythefield Park on Saturday night.

Financial Advisory Firm To Create 48 Jobs In Belfast

Grant Thornton, a financial advisory firm, is creating 48 new jobs within it's Belfast operation.

The company is starting a range of new consultancy activities and will be recruiting change management experts, IT and cyber specialists and economic advisers.

Richard Gillan of Grant Thornton said the company had trebled its turnover in the past four years.

"More recently, we have witnessed a significant uplift in the provision of strategic consulting advice, including in relation to Brexit," he said.

The development at Grant Thornton is being supported with grants of £240,000 from Invest NI.

Des Gartland from Invest NI said the investment was a "high-value project".

"This was a mobile project that could have been located elsewhere so we are pleased that our support was able to help secure the investment for Northern Ireland," Mr Gartland said.

A series of advisory firms have expanded their operations in Belfast recently, with PA Consulting announcing last month it was opening a digital development centre in the city which is expected to create 400 jobs over the next five years.

(JG/MH)