Triple arsonist in gas cannister grudge attacks causing £20m damage sentenced

A farmer who caused £20m damage in triple arson attacks using gas cannisters over grudges involving a 30-year planning dispute has been sentenced.

Andrew Main, 47, drove a car packed with gas cannisters into the planning department of South Oxfordshire District Council's offices, exploded one at a funeral parlour and set fire to the home of his elderly neighbour over a bitter planning row.

Main, also a scrap metal dealer, had been involved in a planning dispute for more than 30 years in plans to develop land owned by his family.

The funeral parlour he targeted, Howard Chadwick Funeral Services, had conducted his mother Joyce Main's funeral a year earlier after she died unexpectedly aged 87 and residents said he was "badly affected" by her death.

The owners of the funeral parlour and the pensioner had to flee for their lives after the cannisters were thrown through their windows and exploded.

_{Oxford Council Offices that were set alight}

A source at the funeral parlour says they were deliberately targeted after arranging the funeral.

Almost 200 firefighters tackled the blazes in January.

The incident happened days after the anniversary of Main's mother's death after he suffered a psychotic episode.

Prosecutor Michael Roques told Oxford Crown Court it was "miraculous" no one was killed.

Two psychiatric assessments concluded that Main was "acutely unwell" when he started the fires and, following a guilty plea to four counts of arson, he was detained under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.

Sentencing, Judge Ian Pringle said: "It is clear at the time in question, in December and January of this year, that you had a deeply psychotic relapse of bi-polar disorder.

"We will never know why you picked on the targets you did, but we will always know that the consequences were utterly, utterly devastating."

_{Picture shows the devastation to the Oxford Council HQ in Wallingford}

Main's farm is only a short distance from a ­derelict property that was the subject of a long-running planning dispute.

The first fire was started at around 3am, when Main's 80-year-old neighbour Jean Gladstone had the thatched roof of her cottage at Quakers Corner in Rokemarsh set alight.

She managed to escape unharmed, but only thanks to her modern smoke detectors waking her, the court heard.

Mrs Gladstone managed to escaped and alerted neighbours, who then went door-to-door waking neighbours and helped evacuate the village, which has up to 20 homes.

The only thing she rescued in the rush to escape was a bunch of flowers given to her the day before by a relative for her 80th birthday.

She said: "It was just very unfortunate, the whole thing."

Within minutes, both Howard Chadwick Funeral Service in nearby Crowmarsh Gifford and the council offices were engulfed in flames.

_{Jean Gladstone the victim of the arson attack returning to her Roke cottage}

Mr Chadwick had previously arranged the funeral of Main's mother, to whom the defence said he was "very much devoted", and her death was cited as the start of his psychological decline.

He ignited a gas cannister and threw it threw the door of the funeral parlour before driving a car full of cannisters into the council offices next door.

Psychiatrist Dr Seena Fazel, who had assessed Main, said he believed he was suffering from bipolar disorder.

He added: "I know there was a historical dispute between his family and Jean Gladstone but that was 20-30 years ago and he was not directly involved.

"Mr Main's father's statement suggests Andrew wanted to build houses on land owned by his siblings and that he was refused by the council, but there is no evidence to support that so that could be a delusion.

"He said he wanted to die from suicide. He went to a field with a chainsaw but it fell into a brook. He tried to hang himself but this was unsuccessful, so he handed himself into police."

It is estimated the damage caused to the council headquarters will cost £20 million to repair and will take three years to rebuild.

Judge Pringle said: "350 council employees being relocated was catastrophic for them and all the county council."

Hundreds of council employees were forced to relocate and substantial amounts of computer data was lost.