Police have revealed they are focusing on a notorious criminal gang in their investigation into a blaze that left a married couple horrifically injured.

Superintendent Lance Gray said it was suspected there could be links between the attack and a gang of violent drug dealers led by jailed Jordan Moore.

The senior policeman said he wanted the public to know there “are no untouchable criminals”.

Moore, of Cotswold Close, Durrington, was sentenced to 19 years in prison last month, after he was found guilty of using brutality, threats and violence to maintain a strangle hold of the drugs market in Worthing.

Six members of his gang - including his brothers, his mother and girlfriend, were sentenced on Friday September 4 after a former foot soldier turned informant.

Now detectives are looking again at an arson attack in 2005 and want people who may have been scared to have offered evidence before to come forward.

Charlie Fearn and his wife Chris suffered life-threatening injuries after petrol was poured through their letterbox and ignited.

The attack, in Whitebeam Road, Durrington in 2005, left Mr Fearn with 60% burns.

The 66-year-old broke his back in two places after jumping from an upstairs window.

His actions saved the life of his 57-year-old wife who he covered in wet towels and lowered her out of a window to neighbours.

She too was badly burnt and spent weeks recovering in hospital.

Officers have always believed they were victims of mistaken identity.

Supt Gray said: “After the first sentencing I renewed an appeal relating to the arson attack in Whitebeam Road, Worthing, where a married couple were seriously injured. I have always linked that investigation into this group and their associates. I am greatly encouraged by the response of the local community to the appeal and I should like to thank all the people who have phoned in or been into the police station. I now have a more detailed picture of that incident.”

Officers are still working on the four-year-old case, which remains open.

He said: “The perpetrators should clearly understand that this investigation is fully active, resourced and gathering evidence. I should like to prove there are no untouchable criminals in Worthing. The investigation into the arson in Whitebeam Road will not be closed in any circumstance until the offenders are bought to justice. The offenders know who they are. They can’t relax and could easily give me a call to discuss the inevitable.”

Mr and Mrs Fearn, who lost everything in the blaze, never returned to their Whitebeam Road where they had lived for 28 years.

Speaking after the fire Mrs Fearn paid tribute to her husband, who said: "He was wonderful, absolutely wonderful because I just panicked. I don’t remember anything about going through the window, he must have lifted me somehow to get me out. "I kept saying to him, ‘we are going to die’.

Mr Fearn went on to receive an Argus Achievement Award for his bravery.