Drunken hotel chef torched listed building
25 October. Updated: 25 October 15:53
A CHEF who started a fire which completely destroyed a 17th century listed building and took pictures of it burning on a drunken ghost hunt with friends has walked free from court. George Forster had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to arson at the Grade II listed thatched cottage known as Cutlin Mill, on the Alscot estate, in Atherstone-on-Stour.
The 24-year-old, of Hunts Road, Stratford, was given a 12 months suspended sentence and was ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work and to take part in a Thinking Skills programme.
Prosecutor Neil Bannister said Cutlin Mill was a listed building, but in May last year was described as derelict with a planning application lodged to restore it.
The building, which had a thatched roof and timber-framed walls, was owned by the Alscot estate but had not been occupied since the 60s. In the early hours of May 28 last year Forster and a number of friends travelled to Cutlin Mill, which was reputed to be haunted, in two cars and, drinking and messing about, and went inside.
The court heard Forster, a talented pastry chef who has worked for a number of Stratford hotels, said 'let's burn it'. He then used a deodorant can and a lighter to set light to some loose thatch, and it caught fire quickly. The group then stayed to watch it burn down and Forster took photos on his mobile phone, and used it to take a number of photos as the fire was raging.
An Alscot employee was alerted and fire crews attended - but the building was completely destroyed, leaving only the chimney and gables standing.
After appeals by the police, Forster was arrested in September and his phone, which he had tried to hide under his mattress, was seized and still had pictures of the fire on it. He said he had been drunk that night when he and his friends went to the ‘haunted house,’ and accepted he was 80 per cent to blame for the fire although he claimed it had been a little fire inside the house which got out of control.
Mr Bannister added Forster, who had a previous conviction for causing damage, has sent a letter to Alscot representatives expressing his shame. Jamie Strong, defending, conceded the fire had been started deliberately in an offence of 'stupidity' but he didn't realise it would take over the whole building.
Judge Paul Farrer QC condemned Forster's behaviour as an act of 'drunken stupidity' but said because he was a young man with potential he had taken the 'exceptional step' not to jail him.
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