Jail for vengeful worker who started markets fire
AN arsonist who started a £500,000 blaze at Birmingham Wholesale Markets as a “petty act of revenge” has been jailed for five years.
Stephen Wilkinson, 60, had worked at the markets since he was 15 years old.
He started what he thought was just a small fire to get back at a fellow worker in a row over cardboard boxes.
But the flames spread quickly and the blaze ended up destroying three units at the markets, causing losses of more than £500,000.
Wilkinson, from Mickleton Close, Oakenshaw, Redditch, was found guilty of arson with intent following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court last month.
Jailing him this week, Judge Kirstie Montgomery told him: “I have been trying to understand what you intended by the fire.
“The only logical conclusion was that it was an act of petty revenge.”
The court heard how Wilkinson worked as a groundsman at the markets but had a sideline collecting discarded cardboard boxes.
Judge Montgomery said Wilkinson had a disagreement with another box collector and set fire to the boxes in the area where his rival worked. The blaze was started in a metal refrigeration unit at the rear of the markets just after 2pm in August 2015 but quickly spread and ended up destroying three units. Wilkinson was identified culprit after CCTV footage him at the scene moments the fire started. His barrister, Martin Butterworth, said: “My client is a simple man whose whole world had revolved around the market and his family. “His whole family has been left shocked and crushed by this and now his wife, from whom he has never been apart, will be without him. And all because of a momentary act of foolishness.” Judge Montgomery, sentencing Wilkinson, said: “I accept that you are genuinely sorry the markets were damaged and the half a million pounds worth of loss. But you put at risk the lives of firefighters who went into the building to look for trapped people.” as the caught before