A man admitted starting a blaze that destroyed a house as part of an insurance scam, a court heard.
Samuel Todd, of Spencer Street, Accrington, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson following a huge blaze at a terraced house in Clayton-le-Moors, where he lived with his partner Natasha Housby, the jury was told.
Todd, 27, also admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation but denies being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
Burnley Crown Court heard that the terraced end house on Cumberland Avenue in Clayton-le-Moors exploded into flames after it was flooded with gas from the cooking hob and petrol was poured inside through a window.
Todd is standing trial with Ryan Ibbitson, of Selby Close, Baxenden, who was the partner of Ms Housby’s sister Kira Housby. Mr Ibbitson, 23, denies conspiracy to commit arson, conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
Crown prosecutor Judith McCullough told the court that both defendants had been ‘heavily involved’ in the planning of the ‘ferocious’ fire which occurred around 2am on April 15, 2014, as part of an insurance scam to get the most ‘substantial payout’ for the contents of the house.
The jury heard the fire crew manager had ‘never seen a house fire like that they faced that night’, with all the windows ‘blown out’ and the house ‘engulfed in flames’.
Ms McCullough said: “It would be obvious to anyone involved in this foolhardy enterprise that it was an obvious and indisputable risk to the lives to all of those of Cumberland Terrace.”
The trial heard that on April 12 Todd reported that they had been burgled and investigating officers found the gate had been forced, a window prized open with a crowbar, knives stuck into leather sofas and the words ‘thieving scum, I’m going to burn you out’ scratched on the television.
Ms McCullough told the jury a neighbour saw Todd climbing into the house through a back window a few days before the fire, and the prosecution argue the burglary ‘set the stage’ for the next part of the plan.
The court heard that Natasha Housby had taken out a house insurance policy with AXA, around 2am on the day before the fire and later that day a neighbour witnessed Todd and Mr Ibbitson at the house throwing ‘30 to 40 bin liners’ into three cars.
Ms McCullough said Todd and Natasha Howsby then travelled to Clitheroe with their children to stay with Kira and Mr Ibbitson.
Proceeding
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-le-Moors 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.”
