AN arsonist who caused nearly £100,000 worth of damage at the Royal Hotel and forced its guests to be evacuated in the middle of the night has been jailed for 3 1/2 years.
Joshua Mark Dewhurst (21) was sentenced by the Royal Court yesterday for setting fire to a large pile of cardboard boxes outside one of the hotel’s fire exits in Stopford Road in the early hours of 13 November last year. When the night porter opened the door to investigate why smoke was blowing in, debris and smoke billowed into the hotel’s restaurant and reception. Its 48 guests were evacuated, although no one was injured. Dewhurst, who the court heard had an appalling criminal record, was drunk and decided to set fire to some pizza boxes stacked outside the nearby take-away ‘because he was bored’. His first effort, putting the boxes in a Eurobin, was thwarted by the strong wind, so he moved the pile into the archway of the fire exit. Once successful, he claimed he tried to put the fire out but, failing, he remained in the area ‘because he was concerned for the residents of the hotel’.
Article posted on 11th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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