Brightlingsea: Arsonist jailed for vehicle fire spree

A victim who lost his new van to the mindless actions of a serial arsonist has praised our officers for swiftly bringing the culprit to justice.

Andrew Watson, 61, was awoken by the sound of his vehicle’s alarm, emerging bleary-eyed from his home in Red Barn Road, Brightlingsea, at 2am on Wednesday 16 August last year.

He found his van aflame on his driveway.

Mr Watson works in the heritage craft industry and had purchased his van only six weeks prior to its destruction.

To the fire, he lost not only his means of getting to work, but tools and a sat nav which were stored inside.

Footage from his address captured arsonist Todd Colbourne skulking around the vehicle in the moments before it was set alight.

Thanks to the help of Mr Watson, and other members of the public, our officers on the scene were able to quickly identify the arsonist.

On the arrival of our officers, Mr Watson said:

“When the officers arrived I showed them our video footage and they called for additional support.
“What was absolutely fantastic was the police response in actually swamping the area with cars and bodies, allowing them to get him that night.”

Arsonist had been drinking

Our investigation found Colbourne, 32, had been drinking at a pub in Dean Street, Brightlingsea, earlier that night, before leaving in the early hours of the morning.

A short time later, he was spotted by residents trying car door handles nearby.

Colbourne was then captured on CCTV on Mr Watson’s driveway in Red Barn Road, walking behind the van before leaving in the direction of another address.

After finding his van ablaze, Mr Watson moved two other vehicles from the driveway to prevent them catching alight.

We received several calls and attended, alongside colleagues with Essex Fire and Rescue Service.

Whilst on the scene, we were alerted to another arson outside a nearby address involving a second van.

This fire caused damage to two properties in the road.

At one of the properties there was damage to the exterior, and the fire had started to creep under the rafters in the roof.

In the room closest to the fire was a one-year-old child.

Officers were further made aware entry had been forced to several vehicles in the vicinity, with attempts made to set fire to items inside.

During our enquiries at the scene, we found a floor mat inside a vehicle parked in Chapel Road had been set alight, but thankfully this fire did not catch hold and had extinguished.

Arrested at the scene

Officers quickly found Colbourne, of Dean Street, Brightlingsea, on foot nearby and arrested him on suspicion of arson.

He was found to be carrying multiple lighters, a large amount of change and a high vis jumper – items believed to be stolen from within various vehicles.

A further search in custody uncovered phone charges, jewellery, a wallet in another person’s name and multiple pairs of scissors.

In interview, Colbourne refused to answer any of our questions, but due to the weight of evidence compiled against him, had no choice but to admit to the offences.

He admitted all 18 charges levelled against him, including two counts of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered, five counts of arson, as well as attempted theft, theft and vehicle interference.

Appearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday 12 January, he was jailed for six years.

In impact statements read to the court, victims described the harm caused by Colbourne’s actions.

Mr Watson said:

“This hasn’t just affected my employment, my sister-in-law works for a care agency and had to cancel two days’ work in the following days, which let down a young female who is incapacitated, who requires two carers daily.
“My wife was also due to volunteer at the local food bank, but she had to cancel due to being up all night.
"The issue I have is trying to rationalise why he did it. I just can’t understand why he has done it.
“He’s ruined his life, his family life. He’s affected his own family in a very negative way.
“He could have killed somebody. I just cannot get my head around why he attacked people he did not know in the way he has done, with no benefit to himself or anyone else.”

Another victim, who asked to remain anonymous, added:

“For whatever reason you set the fire, you did not take us into consideration.
“You left out compassion, humanity and consequence from your string of decisions you made that night.
“Instead, you have left us with the task of putting our home back to rights, which is daunting, exhausting, time consuming and utterly avoidable.”

Calls were 'immediately' treated seriously

Officer in the case, Detective Constable Ben Stammers, said:

“Colbourne’s actions were utterly reckless and without regard to the serious harm which could have been caused to residents in the vicinity of these fires.
“Aside from that risk to life, he also left residents to deal with the fallout of his mindless actions – the damage left in the wake of his arson spree.
“We were quickly on the scene of this incident and worked with members of the public – who were instrumental in providing our officers with intelligence – to arrest the culprit quickly.
“These reports were immediately treated very seriously.
“No-one deserves to lose their property to the actions of arsonists like Colbourne.
“I hope the victims can take some solace from the fact he will spend a considerable term behind bars for his actions.”

For advice on how to stay safe and protect your home, yourself, your business and your vehicles from crime, please visit our crime prevention pages.

You can also find out more general information about crime, the law and staying safe on our advice and information pages.

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