Police investigating malicious damage to a home following a break in on Monday are concerned after officers found a bedroom was set on fire.

Sometime overnight on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday, a person – or a number of people – broke into a house on Kauri Street in Edgecumbe.

Police are asking for information about a house that had one of its bedrooms set on fire on Monday.

Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Darren Thomes says once inside the house, the suspect or suspects have caused damage to a number of different areas, using various methods.

'Of particular concern is that a fire was deliberately started in one of the bedrooms,” he says.

'This is a particularly concerning situation, as many houses are completely destroyed when fires are lit in this way. It is only by pure luck that the entire house was not engulfed in flames.”

Darren says this is a risk not only to the house where the fire was lit, but also to neighbouring properties where people were fast asleep.

'We need the community to assist us with any information as to who is responsible for this damage, no matter how unimportant or irrelevant it may seem to them.

'The damage caused to the house will have a direct financial impact on the owner of the house.”

Police are following a number of lines of enquiry in relation to this incident.

Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the Kauri Street area, or anyone who has any knowledge of this incident is asked to pass this information onto police as soon as possible.

People with information are asked to contact Whakatane Police Station on 07 3085255, Edgecumbe Police on 07 3049004.

Alternatively, information can be left anonymously via the Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 line.