Police are trying to locate a man who set fire to a hairdresser in Enschedé on Thursday night. The victim, who is being treated in hospital, has not yet been questioned.

‘It seems the hairdresser was the target. The perpetrator came into the shop, sprayed him with a flammable liquid and set him alight,’ according to a police spokesman.

The man was described as 1.80 metres tall and wearing dark clothing and a balaclava. A stolen burnt-out Seat Ibiza was later found in Hengelo and may have been the car he fled in.

The hairdresser’s shop had been the scene of earlier incidents. Police are investigating whether these may have been connected with an earlier owner. The victim had only recently taken over the business.