Elderly grandparents of Gareth Bale’s fiancee victims of terrifying arson attack
John McMurray, 79, and Eva, 84, were forced from their home of more than 30 years after yobs smashed windows and torched their 4x4
REAL Madrid star Gareth Bale was last night comforting his fiancée after a terrifying arson attack at her grandparents’ home.
Yobs threw bricks through downstairs windows, kicked in their front door and torched their 4x4 before neighbours raised the alarm.
A second car belonging to their son was drenched in petrol but not set ablaze.
John McMurray, 79, and wife Eva, 84, were forced from their house of more than 30 years.
Police are probing Friday’s attack, which sources claimed was sparked by a family dispute.
Emma Rhys-Jones, 25 — who got engaged to Wales star Bale, 27, in July — was told of the attack in a phone call to her Madrid home a few hours later. A source told The Sun on Sunday: “It’s left Emma understandably very shaken.
“She’s very, very close to her family.”
Yesterday there was no sign of her grandparents at the house in Llanishen, Cardiff.
Both cars targeted were taken away by police in a special “anti explosives” vehicle and were undergoing forensic tests.
A neighbour said: “We were woken up by a loud crack and a flash.
“I could see the car was on fire in their driveway.”
The attack is the latest blow to Emma’s family.
Last month her dad Martin Rhys-Jones, 52, was jailed for six years in the US for money laundering.
Last night a police spokesman confirmed: “We are investigating an incident of a vehicle fire and damage to a property. The incident is being treated as arson and criminal damage.”