Man who set fire to office of ex-boss jailed

A sacked senior manager travelled from West Cork to take revenge on his former employer’s offices in England, a court heard.

Two years after his dismissal, Stuart Gregory, with an address in the Skibbereen area, walked into the offices of animal feed distributor Henry Cole and Co in Ewen, near Cirencester, Gloucester, and used petrol to start a fire in the reception area.

Horrified staff heard the ‘whoosh’ as the flames leapt up in the office, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Gregory, it was claimed, did it because he was so aggrieved by being dismissed from the company by managing director Alan Christie in Dec 2010, said prosecutor Philip Warren.

Gregory pleaded guilty to arson, being reckless whether life was endangered, on Dec 5, 2012. He also admitted setting fire to a quantity of bales of animal bedding belonging to Henry Cole and Co.

Recorder Nigel Pascoe jailed him for a total of four years and eight months.

“You had an accelerant and you had a clear intention to set fire to the place. You were the worse for drink,” he said.

“At the scene afterwards you said: ‘He (Christie) deserves everything he gets’. This was a serious planned fire by way of revenge.

“Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished.

“You are a man of previous good character. You are not mentally ill. There is no alternative to a prison sentence which reflects the gravity and potential danger of what you did.”

Paul Trotman, defending, said: “This was a business where he invested a large part of his life, 10 years or so. He spent a considerable time modernising the business. It became unrecognisable from the business he had started with.

“He felt he had been very badly treated in the last couple of years there, particularly by Mr Christie when he took over as managing director.

“He says eventually he felt he had to walk out of the business and return to Ireland. He says he resigned, he was not sacked.

“He had been drinking heavily before this incident and was stewing about his situation and he then set off from Ireland with a view to giving his view to the company as he saw it.

“He is adamant, when he set off, he had no intention to do any deliberate harm.”