Two figures ‘seen running away’ from the scene

BOTH defendants used accelerants to increase the spread of the fire with ‘hardly a care for the possible consequences’, it was claimed at Burnley Crown Court.

Judith McCullough, prosecuting, told the jury that the Clayton-leMoors house was collapsing and it took ‘more than four hours’ for fire crews to make it safe.

Prosecutors said that a neighbour witnessed two men outside the property on Cumberland Avenue before 2am on April 15, and claimed he saw a man climb out of the downstairs window who then threw something into the house and ‘sparked a lighter’ and it ‘immediately erupted into flames’.

CCTV footage from a neighbour’s house shows two figures running from the property, one of whom the owner of the camera said she recognised as Todd, the court heard. The jury heard that one of the men was carrying a petrol can.

Prosecutors said Todd was spotted 15 minutes later by another neighbour watching the fire from a nearby garden and when he was questioned about how he had arrived so quickly from Clitheroe he ‘did not reply’.

A fire manager discovered footprints leading away from the scene, and a single boot left stuck in the mud and when Todd and Mr Ibbitson were later arrested Mr Ibbitson was found to be ‘smelling of accelerant’, the prosecution claimed.

The trial heard claims that clothing was discovered in the boot of a Vauxhall Astra including a single boot which forensic analysis found was ‘likely to be paired to the one found in the mud’ and a plastic bottle containing petrol was found in the rear garden of the house with Todd’s DNA on the rim.

The jury was told that both defendants initially claimed to police they were asleep in bed in Clitheroe at the time of the fire.

Todd later admitted setting the fire and conspiring to commit fraud, the court heard.

Ms McCullough said the Crown believe they have a ‘powerful and cogent case’ against both men. She said: “The use of accelerants brought to the scene to spread about the property demonstrated that both of these defendants have little or regard for the safety of others.”

Defending Todd, Naeem Karbhari told the jury: “Mr Todd has already admitted his culpability in being involved in a conspiracy to commit arson and he’s actually accepted his guilt with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

“The only issue that you will have consider in due course is the count of recklessness.”

Jeremy Lasker, defending Mr Ibbitson, said: “As far as Ryan Ibbitson is concerned the question is who was that second man?

“Who was that man with Samuel Todd, and let me make it clear Ryan Ibbitson says it was not him.”

The trial continues