Paperweight ruins luxury home

London: At just £4 (Dh21.40) it was a cheap and easy way of keeping her paperwork in order. But the three-inch glass weight proved an expensive investment after it caused a freak fire which left Martin and Ruth Ball's £1-million (Dh5.35 million) home in ruins.

Fire investigators believe the paperweight concentrated the sun's rays on to a pile of books and set them alight when it was left in the first floor conservatory during last month's mini-heatwave in the UK.

The resulting blaze caused an estimated £300,000 (Dh1,605,000) of damage, destroying the roof of the house which collapsed through to a swimming pool on the ground floor.

Ball, 49, said: "It's heartbreaking. My father-in-law built this house and we just had to stand there and watch it burn. We've basically lost everything. We didn't even have a toothbrush left after the blaze was extinguished."

The conservatory connects to the master bedroom and was built to overlook the swimming pool. But as the flames spread, fire engulfed the rest of the first floor as 20 firemen battled to bring the inferno under control.

Temporarily homeless

By the time the blaze was put out five hours later, virtually all of the home had been gutted either through fire, building collapse or water damage.

On Sunday, the Balls, who have two children, said they've been left temporarily homeless with only the clothes they were wearing at the time. They've been staying in a hotel since the blaze.

Repairs to the property, which stands in two acres and overlooks rolling countryside in the Derbyshire Dales village of Osmaston, are expected to take months to complete.

Ball said: "It happened at the end of a really hot spell and obviously the heat had been building up through the day and the sun was still quite high at 3pm. I had a small, glass paperweight in the conservatory on the window ledge and it's the only thing that fire investigators have decided could possibly have caused it. But we're just thankful no one was hurt. After all, they are only possessions and can be replaced; a family cannot."