IT is only through good fortune that the suspected arson attack in Scott Street, Keighley, didn't end in tragedy.

Had it not been for the presence of smoke alarms in the house and the rapid response of the fire service, the consequences could have been fatal.

Seven people, four of them children, were asleep in the property at the time.

It beggars belief what goes through the mind of someone prepared to commit a crime like this.

The person must know that their actions could result in the death of one or more occupants.

Someone so dangerous must be caught.

Police have this week issued a CCTV image of a person they want to speak to in connection with the incident.

The picture is not particularly brilliant, but it is something.

It's probably too much to expect that the perpetrator will feel any sense of remorse for what they did and hand themselves in.

So it's down to the public.

There must be somebody out there who knows, or at least suspects, who was responsible.

Don't protect them.

If they're prepared to do something like this once, they wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

And next time we could have a real tragedy on our hands.