A couple left severely burned after an arson attack on their home have told of the horror as they tried to escape.

Charlie and Chris Fearn are slowly recovering from their shocking injuries sustained when a suspected drug gang torched their home - targeting the wrong address.

The couple, who are just coming round after they were heavily sedated for more than two weeks, told how they wrapped wet towels around themselves as flames surrounded them.

They are expected to recover from their injuries but medics say they could suffer long-term psychological damage.

Speaking to their sons, Darren and Lee, the couple have told of the panic as they tried to scramble out of the front door on their burning home.

They were beaten back by the flames and forced upstairs where they had to jump from a bedroom window.

From his hospital bed, Charlie Fearn, 66, told his sons how he tried to get out of his burning house in Whitebeam Road, Durrington near Worthing, but was beaten back by heat and smoke.

Mr Fearn his wife Chris, 59, then jumped from the upstairs as the house around them went up in smoke after someone poured petrol over their front door and set it alight on October 31.

Mr Fearn said he tried to open the front door but could not because it was too hot. He fled back upstairs to rescue his wife but in those few seconds the fire and smoke became so intense they could not get back downstairs.

Instead, he told how he wrapped himself and his wife in wet towels and shouted for help from a bedroom window.

Mr and Mrs Fearn suffered horrific burns from the fire and Mr Fearn broke his back in three places during the fall.

Lee, 36, said: "Their burns would have been an awful lot worse if they hadn't used wet towels. I really do think they saved their lives. Those split second decisions were the right ones."

Darren and Lee were at their mother's bedside when she first woke up last week.

Lee said: "Her face was a look of shock. She couldn't talk very well because of the tubes and the effect of the drugs so we told her straight away that dad was okay.

"The hospital set up a mirror above their beds so they could see each other if they woke up and once mum was moved into a normal ward she was insistent on being wheeled in to see dad all the time."

Stuart said the family had tried to protect their parents from the truth of how the fire started but the couple deliberately asked each of them different questions and talked to other people in the hospital to find out what happened.

She asked if anyone had saved a copy of The Argus which had reported of their ordeal.

Now Mrs Fearn has been released from hospital and is living with Stuart, 31, and his wife Alix in Sompting.

Mr Fearn is still in intensive care and will need an operation to install a metal plate between two of his vertebrae but he is expected to walk again and is breathing for himself.

Stuart said: "All the indications are that they are going to make a full recovery in the physical sense but as for the psychological effects, we just don't know.

"It does seem like there is a light at the end of the tunnel but whoever did this is still out there. If anyone does know anything they should think about how they would feel if it was their parents going through this."

The brothers intend to hold a charity football tournament to raise money for the intensive care unit.

Lee said: "All the doctors and nurses have been fantastic. We just want to thank everyone."

The Argus and Sussex Police have put up a £2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Police have issued an e-fit of a man seen running from the house towards Longhurst Park in the early hours of October 31.

He was described as white, 23 to 32, 5ft 9in, stocky with short light brown or blond hair. He was wearing a black Puffa-type jacket, a dark hooded top and dark trousers.

Anyone with any information can call detectives on 0845 6070999 or call the free and confidential Crimestoppers line on 0800 555111.