ACLifelong Bantams fan Kenneth Walker prayed he would never again be forced to live through another nightmare like the 1985 Bradford City fire.

But his worst fears were chillingly realised when he was forced to endure 90 minutes of hell while rioting thugs turned the Manningham Ward Labour Club into an inferno and blocked the exits with burning cars.

The 54-year-old club committee member was with his family and 22 other people in the club during the riots last weekend.

And speaking to the Telegraph & Argus today he was unequivocal in his judgement of the event: "Somebody tried to murder me.

"I don't know why, but someone tried to kill me and all those other people in the club."

Mr Walker, from Bradford, was in the club along with his wife Norma, son David, his girlfriend Lian Stoyles and crowds of regular customers as it was about to close.

He was about to usher out the last of the people, including a 16-year-old boy, 80-year-old woman and a man with Downs Syndrome, when his wife noticed a group of masked lads gathering in the car park.

He said: "They were all Asian but I'm not going to turn this into an Asian-white thing because we phoned Heaton taxis to get us out and they're Asian.

"They sent their drivers over to take us away but by the time they arrived we were too scared to go out, we just thought it was better to stay inside than risk walking into Ay waited for police to arrive while around them the rioters destroyed the club.

Mr Walker's traumatic experiences on May 11, 1985, when he escaped the blaze at Valley Parade which claimed the lives of 56 people, left him with indelible scars. But he said that made him better prepared to deal with the emotional fall-out of the club fire.

He said: "We were trapped in at Bradford City and we were trapped in the Labour Club, it was the same situation.

"I know what to expect now in terms of the emotions and how to deal with it.

"All we want to do now is rebuild the club."