Danger-dog owner who started blaze at block of flats is jailed
AWOMAN deliberately started a fire in the block of flats where she was living in Cardiff. Nicola Faith Price, 45, of Cardiff, was yesterday jailed for three years and seven months for a total of two offences.
Newport Crown Court heard that Price set fire to wiring at a block of flats in Trowbridge after first warning police.
The court heard that on August 24, 2016, Price phoned the police in a “rambling call” saying there was going to be a fire.
Andrew Davies, prosecuting, said: “She initially refused to say her name, but then did. But she refused to say where or when.”
The court heard that more than a week later, on September 4, 2016, a friend of her son’s who was staying at the property was woken at around 10pm by Price saying there was a fire.
Mr Davies said Price “burst in and said, ‘there’s a fire get the f*** out’”.
The court heard the property was in a communal block of flats, and at the time of the fire the flat below was occupied by a family with four children.
Mr Davies said: “The fire took place outside the flat in an area of electrical wiring.
“The flames were around five feet off the floor. Fortunately the fire was controlled and the emergency services attended.”
Mr Davies said Price claimed the fire was caused by her accidentally throwing lit paper out of a window.
He said: “But when interviewed she said she had nothing to do with it and she had been framed.”
Fire investigators concluded a deliberate ignition and Price pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to simple arson.
On October 18, 2016, while on bail for arson, at around 11.30pm, the court heard, Price was travelling on a bus towards St Mellons.
William Driscoll was also on the bus and saw Price with a bulldogcross he estimated was around “two and a half foot tall”.
Mr Davies said: “He became nervous and could see the dog looking at him. Nicola Price walked off, talking to someone else on the bus.”
The court heard that Price then put her dog on the seat next to Mr Driscoll, who felt “uncomfortable”.
Mr Davies said: “As he [Mr Driscoll] bent down to move the lead it bit him on the right side of the face and neck. The dog was snarling just before the bite. It was just one bite.”
Mr Driscoll required around 15 stitches and a tetanus injection.
The court heard Price has six previous convictions, including one which was a result of the same dog biting a man on playing-fields in Cardiff. Defending, Huw Wallis, said Price was “friendless” and the dog was “something she could rely on”.
He added that Price accepts “she should not have behaved in the way she did” and that a psychiatric report was carried out.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said: “I take the view that [in] each of these offences only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Price, of Glan Y Mor Road, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to one count of simple arson and one count of being the owner in charge of a dog which was dangerously out of control which caused injury.
She was jailed for two years and three months for arson and 16 months for the second charge.
She was also disqualified from owning dogs and the dog was ordered to be destroyed.