Man dies after being set alight

Mr Trotter leaves a pregnant wife and a young son

A man has died in hospital after being set on fire in an apparently motiveless attack.

Wayne Trotter, 30, was walking home from a late shift at a plastics factory in Hertfordshire when his clothes were set alight.

Residents called the emergency services after they found the man screaming for help.

Police are anxious to find three youths seen near the scene of the attack at 0035 GMT on Thursday in Borehamwood.

This was an appalling and ferocious attack on a local family man and it appears completely motiveless

Steve Read
Hertfordshire Police

Ambulance and fire crews and police arrived on the scene, and the man was taken to Barnet General Hospital.

He was later transferred to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where he died.

Before the attack, the victim had just got off a 292 or 107 bus in Furze Hill Road.

From there he walked along Farriers Way before cutting though a footpath into Dales Path, where neighbours found him screaming for help.

Detective Superintendent Steve Read said: "This was an appalling and ferocious attack on a local family man and it appears completely motiveless.

"I would urge anyone with information to come forward as a matter or urgency."

The victim has left behind a pregnant wife and a three-year-old child.