An elder at a Borehamwood church who spotted youths hanging around the building last week was shocked to find it had been set on fire.

Arthur Spiers, an elder at the Lutheran Church of St Paul, in Furzehill Road, discovered that a flammable liquid had been ignited on a door on Thursday afternoon.

The incident followed a suspected arson attack on Tuesday last week at Holy Cross Church, in Warren Grove, Borehamwood, when a door frame was set alight. Church members said it was fortunate both fires were noticed before they had time to spread, although £500 worth of damage was caused at Holy Cross.

Mr Spiers said: 'I don't know what would have happened if we had not seen it ,, there was a curtain on the other side of the door which was smouldering.'

He explained that he was with Elder Peter Crawley, who was about to give him a lift home from church at around 4.50pm when he saw three youths, aged 13 or 14. They found the inside of the door on fire, and they were still dousing it with water when the church's children's group arrived for its meeting at 5pm.

Meanwhile, police said that newspaper was set on fire in a door frame at Holy Cross at around 6pm on Tuesday last week, which was seen by a congregation member.

Audrey Todd, a warden at the church for ten years, said: 'When our member of church got there he said he was smouldering, but it wasn't too bad ,, I just hope they don't do it again.'

Both Mr Spiers and Mrs Todd said their churches had suffered broken windows at the hands of vandals in the past, but they had never experienced anything so serious as arson.

Anyone who can assist police with their investigations into these two incidents is asked to call 0208 905 1212.