SUSPECTED squatters set fire to clothes in an unoccupied Halliwell house last night - but fled before police arrived.

Firefighters and police were called to a house in Maplewood Gardens at about 6.45pm after reports of a blaze in a house described by neighbours as unoccupied and in a poor state of repair.

Police found evidence that at least one person had been using the house for shelter during the cold weather and had eaten in the house.

A bundle of clothes had been set alight, which firefighters believe was done to warm the house because no utilities were working.

Whoever had been there is believed to have left by the time police and firefighters arrived.

Nobody was injured in the blaze, which did not cause any serious damage to the property.

No-one has been arrested.