Five years for Telford car arsonist
A 22-year-old arsonist who set fire to eight cars in one night during a drunken spree in Telford was this afternoon jailed for five and a half years.
Nyle Keay started a string of fires across Hadley and Leegomery, including one which led to seven people being evacuated from a house.
Keay – who had been celebrating his birthday before starting the fires – was convicted of seven counts of arson and one of arson recklessly endangering life, by a jury after denying the charges.
The arsonist, of Acacia Drive, Leegomery, was jailed this afternoon by Judge Robin Onions at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
The court was told Keay had been walking home in the early hours of April 6 after celebrating his birthday at Fortunes Night Club in Oakengates when he set fire to the cars, causing thousands of pounds in damage.
Keay used a lighter to start the fires, one of which endangered the lives of Mahmood Hussain and his family when he set fire to a taxi parked a few feet from their home.
Mr Mahmood told the trial seven people had to flee the blaze which had caused at least £8,000 damage to his taxi business.
Keay was given three and a half years in prison for the taxi fire and a total of two years for the other offences.
He was also ordered not to return to Acacia Drive when he is released from prison.
In 2009 he was convicted of causing damage to a car in the same street by scorching the paintwork with a lighter.
Judge Onions said: "I think the residents of Acacia Drive deserve a rest from you and your activities.
"This was a single night activity and there was no indication that you were setting fires on other nights.
"You have a quite dreadful criminal record in which drink has been a consistent factor."
Mr Paul Smith, for Keay, asked for leniency and said: "This was a one night spree."
