Police seek four boys after derelict school arson

Police are looking for four boys in connection with a fire at a derelict school which officers believe was started deliberately.

Eight crews were originally sent to the blaze at the former Moira House School buildings in Upper Carlisle Road, Eastbourne, at about 17:45 BST on Sunday.

Shortly after 08:00 on Monday, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS) station manager Trevor Funnell said the response had been scaled back to two fire engines, but he expected firefighters to be there for most of the day.

Sussex Police, who were appealing for information, said the four "boys/young people" were thought to have entered the site on Sunday afternoon.

Sussex Police are appealing for information about the fire

Mr Funnell told BBC Radio Sussex part of Upper Carlisle Road remained closed, but that it would reopen as soon as possible.

He added the part of the building that caught fire had collapsed and urged people to stay away.

The fire broke out on Sunday night

Images show the blaze swept through a large part of the main four-storey building, and destroyed a number of rooms to the rear of the site.

Police and ambulance crews are no longer at the scene and no injuries have been reported.

Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde, who had been in contact with ESFRS and Sussex Police, said what was left of the building faced "significant structural challenges".

"ESFRS have told me that the unstable structure could still pose a risk to the public, even though the fire has mostly been managed," he explained.

"As a result, assessments will be made ASAP about what will need to be done to reduce the risk to the public posed by the structural challenges of the building that remains."

In response to the fire, anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said she had "fond memories" of her time at the school.

"As a non-selective school that took a good number of girls funded by local authorities, taught cricket and gave girls the confidence to go and be anything they wanted to be - it is sad," she said on X.