A man in his 30s was taken to hospital with severe burns tonight after apparently setting himself alight outside his Bradford home.

Emergency services were called to Newport Place, Manningham at around 4.45pm as neighbours tried desperately to help the man, known as Ali.

A police cordon remained in place outside the house tonight with an officer stood guard as investigations into the incident continued.

Faqir Ur Rahman, chairman of Manningham Residents Association, said he was walking past the property when the fire started.

He said: “I was just passing and I saw a young man set fire to himself. I asked someone to ring the fire brigade and I went to the mosque and came back and there was an ambulance here.

“I saw many people were there when I was passing. People had buckets of water and were trying to put the fire out.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Police were called by the fire service at 4.45pm to reports of a man on fire at an address on Newport Place in Manningham. The man, in his 30s, was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary with serious injuries, and will be transferred to Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, shortly.”