A MAN has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of a mum and her young daughter after being arrested over an alleged flat firebombing in Greenock.

Operation Tell detectives investigating a string of petrol bombings say that Michael Hardie, 25, tried to kill 40-year-old Louise Bradley and daughter Annalise, nine, after targeting their Wellington Street home late at night.

Hardie, of Drumchapel, near Glasgow, is accused of smashing the living room window of the property and hurling a burning Molotov cocktail inside.

He is the eighth suspect to be arrested in connection with a wave of firebombings amid a bitter feud between rival local criminal factions last year.

Hardie is today back on the streets after being granted bail by a sheriff following an appearance at Greenock Sheriff Court on the double murder bid charge.

It is alleged that he 'did wilfully set fire to a container containing accelerant, did smash a window and throw said container into premises occupied by Louise Bradley and Annalise Bradley'.

The charge further states that 'the fire took effect thereon and as a result Louise Bradley sustained injuries to her head and body to the danger of her life'.

Prosecutors allege that Hardie 'did attempt to murder them' on the night of September 18 last year.

So far, Robert Warnock, 24, Lee Heron, 23, Kieran McAnally, 24, Craig MacFarlane, 25, Eamonn Magee, 20, Brendan O'Donnell, 22, Hardie and another 25-year-old man have been arrested and charged in connection with the petrol bombings.

Warnock is accused of plotting from prison to kill a six-year-old girl and four other people by allegedly 'directing' a gang of men to target people's homes.

He is said to have conspired with four men — and others who are meanwhile unknown — through telephone conversations between July 10 and September 19 last year to 'assault and murder' the alleged victims.

Prosecutors say that two men, two women and a child aged six were within the houses when Molotov cocktails were thrown at the buildings on Union Street and Cumberland Road in Larkfield.

The Union Street house was targeted twice.

Petrol bomber George Miller, 46, burned to death in the second attack on September 14 after accidentally torching himself.

Lee Heron is charged with being involved in the alleged conspiracy to murder the occupants of the Cumberland Road House and Kieran McAnally is accused of carrying out the attack on September 19 last year whilst 'acting with others'.

Craig MacFarlane has been remanded in custody over an alleged attack on the Union Street house on July 13 last year.

Eamonn Magee appeared in court last month charged with conveying George Miller to the property on September 14 last year and supplying him with crack cocaine and petrol.

A property at Kincaid Court was also torched during the wave of violence.

In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph last November, Ms Bradley — a cook at the Craigend Resource Centre — told how she was left badly burned in the attack on her Wellington Street home.

She said: "The window smashed and this thing came right towards me

"I jumped up just as it exploded near to my face and it caught the right-hand side of my body.

"Annalise was screaming."

Medics later told her that her quick-thinking actions in running to her shower to put the flames out saved her from worse injury.

Ms Bradley suffered burns on her face, neck, hair, ear, arm and hand.

She said: "I am so glad we're alive but we lost everything, the house and all of our stuff."

Arrests were made as part of the major Operation Tell police investigation following a widespread appeal for information.

Accused Hardie made no plea during a private appearance on petition at Greenock Sheriff Court.

A date for his next court appearance is to be confirmed.