Cameron Brown (Image: South Wales Police)
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A 23-year-old man who doused a stranger’s home with petrol and set it alight – believing his ex-partner was inside – has been handed an extended prison sentence after a judge branded him a dangerous offender.
Cameron Brown targeted a property in Fitzhamon Avenue, Llantwit Major, in the early hours of New Year’s Day, convinced his former girlfriend was spending the night with another man at the address. He had the wrong house entirely – the home he set ablaze belonged to a family of six with no connection to him whatsoever.
A family left traumatised
Sharon Alazia was inside the property when something came through her letterbox shortly after 7.30am. Initially thinking it was the newspaper, she then heard her daughter cry out that the house was on fire. Smoke was pouring through the hallway and the letterbox cage was ablaze.
Among the six occupants were Ms Alazia’s 93-year-old mother and her 28-year-old daughter who has special needs.
In a victim personal statement read to Cardiff Crown Court by prosecutor Paul Hewitt, Ms Alazia spoke of her fear for her elderly mother: “If her mobility wasn’t as good as it is I dread to think how she would have got out of the house.”
She described the lasting impact on her daughter: “The fire has been such a trauma for her, she says her safe place no longer feels safe. We have told her the fire was nothing to do with us and it was an awful mix up with a stranger but now she fears all strangers might come into the garden and attack her.”
Relationship breakdown
The court heard Brown had visited his ex-partner’s home on December 23 to see their daughter, but an argument broke out and he lost his temper. Before leaving, he grabbed a shovel and used it to damage her black Audi Q3.
By New Year’s Eve, Brown had been drinking and became fixated on the idea that his ex was with another man. He tried repeatedly to contact her and turned up at her home at 3am.
The attack
At 7.10am on New Year’s Day, Brown was captured on footage purchasing petrol at a filling station in St Athan, filling a green plastic container. Mr Hewitt told the court the defendant, who was under the influence of alcohol, had also armed himself with a pink-handled knife taken from his ex-partner’s kitchen.
He then made his way to Fitzhamon Avenue – but went to the wrong address. His ex-partner was actually staying a couple of doors away.
Neighbours rushed to tackle the blaze after it was discovered, and the court heard that without their swift action the fire would likely have spread to adjoining properties. Among those who helped extinguish it was the very man Brown’s ex-partner had been staying with.
When Brown’s former girlfriend later heard neighbours describing a man they had seen walking away from the burning house, she showed them a photograph of the defendant. They confirmed it was him. Brown returned to the scene at around 11am and was arrested by police.
Mitigation and sentence
Defence counsel Ruth Smith told the court that Brown had been diagnosed with ADHD during his school years and had “struggled to cope” with the collapse of his relationship, turning to alcohol. She said he accepted his behaviour was “completely unacceptable” and noted that his ex-partner still considered him a good father and a “hardworking man”.
Brown, of Beaconsfield, Wick, in the Vale of Glamorgan, pleaded guilty to arson, possession of a bladed article, and criminal damage. He has previous convictions for battery and driving with excess alcohol.
Sentencing, Judge Paul Hobson said: “Your behaviour that day was deeply disturbing, to start a fire at someone’s house because of your jealousy at a time you plainly believed that house was occupied.”
He added: “The fact you are capable of such a thing is of great concern. You are a dangerous offender in the statutory meaning and an extended sentence is required.”
Brown was sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment with an extended licence period of four years.
