A senior police officer has admitted that no scenes of crime investigation was carried out after a major blaze in Burley in Wharfedale.

Chief Inspector Simon Atkin confirmed that a scenes of crime examination had not been requested after the fire at the Roundhouse earlier this year.

But he stressed there was no evidence that any accelerant had been used at the seat of the fire.

He made his comments after a serving police officer broke ranks to criticise the handling of the probe into the major blaze, which caused £20,000 worth of damage.

The officer, who did not want his identity to be revealed, came forward after allegations in last week's Gazette that forensic tests had not been carried out after the blaze at the Roundhouse.

No scenes of crime or CID officers were involved in the investigation, according to community council member John Sparshatt.

Mr Sparshatt, himself a former scenes of crime officer, said police had seriously reduced their chances of catching the culprits by failing to carry out basic forensic examination.

And his views were backed up by a member of the West Yorkshire force who contacted the Gazette because he felt so strongly about the issue.

The officer, who would not be named, said: "It is true what he says. I actually walked up there after the fire and had a look. I could see the point of entry hadn't been fingerprinted. There was no fingerprint dust."

"I am not a scenes of crime officer but when I have attended fires it is basic stuff. You take debris and that is sealed up and if there is a point of entry, even though it might be blackened, it is routine to fingerprint that."

"I was quite surprised that there had been no forensics."

He said people in Burley felt that many of their complaints and worries were simply not followed up when they were reported to Keighley police.

In the days surrounding the Roundhouse blaze other more minor fires broke out in the area but police are being accused of failing to act on reports that a group of youths had been seen setting fire to toilet roll in the street.

And the officer claims local people have been disappointed when their attempts to help in other investigations have failed to produce a response.

He said he had heard of cases where local people had tipped off police about habitual drink drivers but claimed no action was taken.

On another occasion a member of the public had phoned offering information about a fatal accident on the by-pass - but no-one got back to them, he said.

He stressed he was not criticising any individual officer but blamed a lack of police officers and a lack of experience for the problems.

He said: "I know for a fact that they are really stretched in uniform, they are under a lot of pressure."

He claimed that many problems arose because forces were under pressure to meet home office targets, and officers did not have the same experience and local knowledge that they used to have.

Chief Insp Atkin, of Keighley, said: "I reviewed the investigation and can confirm that a scenes of crime investigation was not carried out.

"It is always the decision of the investigating officer to request such examinations. And from the information I have to hand it would appear that such an examination was not requested due to the water damage which had been caused, obviously by the fire service attending."

He added: "It is difficult to say whether a scenes of crime examination would have uncovered any new evidence with the circumstances I have just outlined."

"CID officers at Keighley division were aware of this incident and the investigation was carried out by an experienced officer who works in the Ilkley area. This officer actually discovered these premises on fire whilst on patrol."

He argued that police had had a great deal of success reducing the rates of robbery, burglary and vehicle crimes across the division and in Burley itself.

But he said the village actually suffered from very little crime, with only 46 inc-- the majority of which were abandoned vehicles, road traffic accidents or elderly people requiring assistance.

He stressed that response times to incidents in Burley were good. And he said the local PC was working closely with other agencies to tackle the problem of some youths who have been reported to be causing a nuisance in the area.