Stable lad sent to jail for revenge arson attack (From Gazette & Herald)

Stable lad sent to jail for revenge arson attack

A stable lad from Malton was sentenced on Friday to four years in jail for a revenge arson attack on a former neighbour.

Stephen Shaun Peirson, 44, wanted to punish Wayne Jervis because he believed him to be responsible for an attack on his friend 'Lester' Patchett, a jury at York Crown Court heard.

When his intended victim was out, he set light to Mr Jervis' ground-floor room in a terraced house in Vine Street, Norton.

Peirson later admitted his guilt to police in a letter and a taped interview, as well as admitting he started a separate blaze at the Egerton Stud in Cambridgeshire, but then maintained he was innocent and his "confessions" were a cry for help in dealing with "premonitions".

Dismissing his claims, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, said: "You realised you had put your foot in it and tried to bluff your way out of it. Fortunately, the jury saw through your lies.

"It was deliberate fire-raising with intent to do significant damage in the flat. It was a revenge attack as you said in your confession to police."

He jailed him for four years. Peirson, of Old Maltongate, Malton, had denied arson and being reckless as to whether life was endangered, but was convicted after a trial.

The jury heard that all of Mr Jervis' belongings were destroyed in the fire on April 7, 2001, apart from the clothes he stood up in at the time. Although he was out at the time the fire started, people were in both the adjoining houses and the fire may have burned unnoticed for 45 minutes before it was spotted by a neighbour.

When Peirson went into the witness box at York Crown Court, he alleged that he had not started either blaze and had only confessed to get help because he suffered from premonitions.

During the trial, Peirson claimed he had foreseen something terrible would happen in September 2001 and the Soham man-hunt.

Defence barrister Simon Hickey handed in a psychiatrist's report that said Peirson was not suffering from any mental illness, but could have an abnormal personality.

The barrister added that a doctor had recently diagnosed Peirson as being in the early stages of multiple sclerosis.

Prison would be hard for Peirson because he was a stable lad and had always lived an outdoor life, Mr Hickey said, adding that the offence was out of character.

Updated: 14:42 Wednesday, April 09, 2003