Chris Packham tells family horror as he shares moment house burned down

BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham has shared the horrifying moment his home in the New Forest burned which resulted in his car exploding

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Chris Packham recalls horrific firebomb attack on his home

Chris Packham has talked about the terrifying moment his home burned down in an attack that caused his car to explode.

The 60-year-old animal activist and presenter of BBC Springwatch told how his family was terrorized over the incident, when his country house in Hampshire’s New Forest was set on fire. targeted in October last year.

Appearing on BBC’s Crimewatch Live, the TV star said of the ordeal: “Myself and the dogs went to bed, pretty early for us right before midnight and right after 12:30am already. a big explosion.

“That was the first time I knew about the incident. The car clearly exploded.

“The bang was so loud, the dogs flew out of their beds and started screaming and barking right away.”

He continued: “Where I live, we are not prone to any loud noise interruptions at night so it was quite startling.

“And then, of course, it happened that this car was parked outside the gate and caught on fire – thankfully the fire and police were involved.

“They tried to put out the fire in that stage which actually destroyed the gates, damaged a lovely old tree, which obviously upsets me too.

“It was not until early morning that we counted all the damage.

“The car was completely burned. It was so hot that the engine lock was melted.”

Chris previously described the incident at the home he shares with partner Charlotte Corney and stepdaughter Megan as a “hell” and an “act of cowardice”.

At the time, Chris insisted: “I won’t cower, I won’t wear a seat belt

“I cannot and will not let your intimidation disorient me.”

This isn’t the first time his home has been targeted, with thugs hanging dead animals over his gate, leading to Chris’s lack of action against these criminals. .

Chris said: “I wonder about online trolls because they don’t like it.

“Despite working effectively with the police, the law means I cannot take any action against this form of harassment.

“But it’s a hate crime. There’s nothing vague about it. It’s a bit unfair that black players accept unwarranted and appalling hate crimes, the matter can be handled and corrected. That’s great and I fully support that.”

“But when environmentalists like me receive the same obnoxious agony of relentless abuse, there’s nothing we can do about it. Because it pays off in the end.

“Perhaps the cost is that my gate caught fire causing thousands of pounds of damage. And of course that’s not the first act we’ve seen here. Dead animals are a regular occurrence.

“But now it’s escalated because they’ve damaged that property and I wonder where it’s going. I mean what’s going to happen next?

“Are they going to set fire to the house, to beat my own child, to cut the brake lines on my partner’s car?

“Or did they come directly for me? Are they going to kill me at some point? I think that’s a fair question.”

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