A mother and her three young children have been left homeless after a fire destroyed their family home.

Firefighters fought a blaze at the property in Lady Beam Court, Kelly Bray, on Monday, January 24, which police are now treating as arson.

Rachael Oakley, 37, was in Callington with her youngest child when the fire started, and her other two children were at school.

She said: 'I lost everything – it was so horrible to see their bedrooms for the first time following the fire. I was told that, had we been in the house at the time of the fire, we would have died. I could have lost my babies.

'I recently lost my mum to brain cancer, my husband left me, and now I have lost my home.'

The mother-of-three had only lived in the rented house at Kelly Bray for a few months and is now looking for somewhere to live.

The full-time mum is currently having to live in a room at the Travelodge, Liskeard, with her children, Dante (6), Wenzday (4) and Vincent (2).

Her eldest children are unable to attend school in Stoke Climsland because she does not have a car and there is no direct bus route.

The family is on the council house waiting list, but is desperately in need of a suitable private property to rent in the meantime.