A woman's house was left uninhabitable when it was bombed in a case of mistaken identity - while she was asleep inside.

Ellie Haigh, 26, was asleep when a brick and a petrol bomb was launched into her lounge in Newton Aycliffe home, County Durham.

The accounts manager was awoken by the sound of her neighbours, and it was only when she got outside, she realised her house was on fire.

Ellie's three-bedroom house was attacked by mistake, and it has now been left uninhabitable until over £50,000 worth of repairs are carried out.

The fire and smoke damage has affected every room - with thick black smoke marks left behind.

Ellie, an accounts manager from Durham, said: "I went to bed really early because I was going to the gym in morning."

"I'd been asleep for an hour, and I woke up to the sound of men's voices near the house at around 8pm."

"I looked out the window, and I saw neighbour I recognised walking towards the house."

"I ran down and I was stood in the doorway, and I had tunnel vision."

"The whole street were stood there shouting at me telling me to get out the house saying it was going to blow."

"I looked to my left, and the window was smashed through, and the house was on fire."

Ellie's house was hit on the evening of March, 5 2025 - an evening when she had decided to go to bed early.

After failing to charge anyone with the attack, police have since closed the case.

Ellie added: "I had a chat with the police officer, and they did a joint investigation with the fire service. "

"The insurance has written everything off. "

"The kitchen wasn't on fire, but the smoke damage has ruined everything."

"All my clothes have to be disposed of. "

"Carpets ripped up."

"The guys who came to visit have said without it burning it down it's bad as it could possibly be because of the smoke damage."

Ellie is currently waiting for her insurers to commence the rebuilding work required.

She said: "They get three independent companies to come out and value the work and then the insurers pick the ones to do it."

"We're still in that phase."

"I've been out the house since March and it could be another six months before work even starts."

"The house is really sentimental - it was my grandma's. "

"I bought the house off my mum, and I spent the last year renovating and then this happened."

"I'd renovated the house and had two tenants due to move in in March before this happened. "

"My partner and I were due to move into another house we were going to renovate."

Ellie is still stuck paying her council tax and she claims Durham County Council declined her request for exceptional circumstances because of her high salary and removed her 25% single occupancy discount because no one is living in it.

This has resulted in Ellie paying more council tax, despite not being able to live in the property.

She said: "I was under the impression that when things like this happen, the council would support you."

"I've written to the valuation office, and I've appealed it about five times and they said they can't remove it for uninhabitable properties."

"If the roof isn't watertight then you can get an exemption, but because it is I can't get it, even though everything else is broken."

"I've written to my MP; councillors and they all can't believe it."

"I've had an email from the police saying legally I can't live in the property as it's unsafe, but the council don't care."

"We just never expected to be paying two mortgages and two sets of bills, but now we are."

Victoria Murray, Durham County Council's head of transactional and customer services, said: "We fully appreciate the difficult position Ms Haigh has found herself in and sympathise entirely with her situation."

"While we are not able to comment on individual cases, we understand Ms Haigh has contacted the Valuation Office Agency to see if she can be exempt from paying Council Tax on the property due to its condition. "

"We have also advised Ms Haigh to contact her insurance company as her policy may cover her Council Tax liability."

"We will continue to work closely with Ms Haigh and support her as best we can."