A Meldreth pensioner battling against cancer is offering a £10,000 reward to bring an arsonist who left him ‘with only the clothes on his back’ to justice.

Royston Crow: the damage by the firethe damage by the fire (Image: Archant)

Retired blacksmith and gardener Robin Dickerson, 70, says he ‘just wants justice’ after the attack gutted his Grove Farm home a year ago.

In the early evening of February 8 last year Robin received a call from his son Gary, 44, that would turn his whole world upside down.

His Kneesworth Road house – a barn he renovated himself in 1988 and hadn’t insured – was on fire.

As he faces the first anniversary of his horrifying ordeal, Robin said: “When I received that phone call, I was just gutted. I thought to myself: I’m never going to do anything with this place again.

Royston Crow: the damage by the firethe damage by the fire (Image: Archant)

“It wasn’t about the money, all my sons’ trophies that they’d won from football competitions had been destroyed. You can’t replace them.”

The ashes of Robin’s son Nigel –who died in 2002 after choking on his own vomit – had been moved and hidden behind a dustbin, and a case with the deeds to the house had been taken out of a cabinet and left on the side of the road.

Yet Robin – who has prostate cancer – was touched when 50 people from the village set to work on the Monday morning to help the 70-year-old clear the site of ash and debris.

Robin has only just moved back into his barn – which he has so far spent £20,000 restoring – after living in a friend’s caravan for the past year.

Cambridgeshire police has filed the case ‘pending further evidence’ but anyone with information should call 101.