A man who admitted setting fire to an adult store in Bath last year has been handed an indefinite prison sentence. The 43-year-old man had reportedly become frustrated with the staff at the Private Shop in Lower Bristol Road, Bath, and went into the store on October 21st last year and announced: “I’ve got a surprise for you”, before pouring petrol around the shop and setting it alight.
The court heard that the man told police after his arrest: “I have a gripe about some of the DVDs they sell and produce and I have been receiving hassle from someone. My gripe is that the company used to use a courier in the capital and he got dropped into the shit when he lost some property.”
The court also heard that the defendant had 11 convictions for 18 previous offences, including stalking an unnamed BBC actress, and he had threatened to fire bomb a pub in 1993 after being evicted from the premises. Following assessments by two psychiatrists, the man was described as being dangerous and delusional. He pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered after a judge ordered the jury to acquit him of the more serious charge of arson with intent to endanger life.
