A MAN was being questioned last night about an alleged arson attack on a car owned by former Newcastle United star Andy Carroll.

The Gateshead-born striker’s brand new Range Rover was set alight outside the Northumberland house of United captain Kevin Nolan last October.

Mr Carroll was staying at his team-mate’s Ponteland home at the time as a condition of his bail after being charged with assaulting his former girlfriend Laurie Henderson, 18.

The alleged arson attack took place before the 22-year-old’s £35m transfer to Liverpool FC made him England’s most expensive football player.

Police and firefighters were called to the Darras Road house on the evening of October 10 after the chrome-plated 4X4, bought by Carroll to celebrate his new five-year contract with Newcastle, was set alight.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Northumbria Police said: “On Tuesday, police arrested a 33-year-old man from the Whitley Bay area in connection with an arson that happened in Darras Road, Ponteland, on October 20, 2010.”

Mr Nolan’s wife Hayley and their two children were in the house at the time of the incident, when the United skipper and Mr Carroll spotted the burning car outside.

The charges against Mr Carroll relating to Ms Henderson were later dropped.