A stolen car abandoned and set alight started the fire which destroyed a Bradford textile mill, detectives have revealed.

Police say the car had been involved in a collision with another vehicle nearby shortly before the blaze broke out.

The huge fire started last Wednesday evening at the Jack Walker and Sons wool mill in Listerhills Road after the distinctive silver Chevrolet Captiva was dumped next to it and set alight.

Fire officers found the car ablaze at the same time as the burning building.

Police and fire investigators trawled through CCTV footage to see if the mill blaze had set fire to the car, or if it had been the other way round.

Now detectives have established that the car fire set light to the building.

The Chevrolet – registration number LT 08 ZSW – had been involved in a collision with a white Land Rover Discovery on nearby Legrams Lane at about 5.30pm that evening.

The blaze caused Lister-hills Road to be closed as firefighters battled through the night in a vain bid to save the building.

Nearby firms were left without gas and electricity as supplies were cut off for safety reasons.

Structural engineers from Bradford Council were called to the site to make the building safe.

The mill was owned by Jack Walker and his son Phil. They employed 20 staff.

The Walkers have been too upset to talk about the fire.

Their friend, Omar Majid, said they were devastated by what had happened.

Mr Majid said they had been under pressure from regeneration companies to sell the mill but they were not interested.

Anyone who witnessed the collision, saw the silver car being driven, or saw it being abandoned near the mill, is asked to contact Detective Constable Walsh at Bradford South CID on 0845 6060606.