2010: WHEELCHAIR-BOUND STOURPORT GRANDFATHER JAILED FOR ARSON ATTACK
A 67-year-old wheelchair-bound Stourport grandfather has been put behind bars for three years for setting fire to the Cradley flat where his wife was staying after she told him she was having an affair with his good friend.Raymond Pardoe was told by his wife, Tina, on New Year's Eve their 26-year marriage was over for good and she was leaving him for his friend, John Holmes.
He was "devastated" because he felt he had been "doubly betrayed," Miss Samantha Powis defending told Wolverhampton Crown Court.
She said the arson attack by heartbroken Pardoe on the flat in Toys Road had been completely out of character, as she stressed there was a "great degree of provocation." Miss Powis said the news that his wife had been having an affair for many months with his friend could not have come at a worse time and he set fire to the flat in "a very stressful set of circumstances." Pardoe, of Sandy Lane, Stourport admitted arson with intent to endanger life and he was told by Judge Amjad Nawaz the news his wife was having the affair must "have come like a bolt out of the blue." He added: "It, quite clearly, pushed you over the edge because she no longer wanted to be with you and she was leaving you for a man who was a good friend of yours." The Judge said Pardoe had gone to the flat in the hope of persuading his wife to come back and he went on: "I am sure it was not in your mind at that stage to cause any harm." After a scuffle with Mr Holmes, however, he had sprinkled petrol around the front door of the flat, which was on the middle floor of a two-storey block and started the fire.
The "frightening" aspect of the case, said the Judge, was that the door was the only means of entry and exit to the flat.
"I am sure, at this stage, you knew what you were doing and that the consequences could have been immense danger." Miss Kay Thomas, prosecuting, said Mr Holmes was able to put out the fire after he had been separated in the scuffle with Pardoe by a nearby resident.
A fire service expert later ruled the fire could have put other residents in the block at risk because there was a danger it could have spread.
Miss Powis told the court that Pardoe had been "ill equipped" to deal with the news he had been given by his wife about her affair with his good friend and the father of two reacted badly.
