Arsonist fireman from Shropshire gets new jail term for taking phone from dead friend
A former part-time Shropshire firefighter, involved in a series of arson attacks, took a phone from the body of his accomplice after he found him hanged days before they were due in court.
The mobile phone, which was said to have been thrown away and never recovered, may have contained material linked to the suicide of 37-year-old Kingsley Tolley in 2015.
At Stafford Crown Court yesterday 33-year-old David Pearson was jailed for 27 months after admitting a charge of obstructing the Shropshire Coroner in the execution of his duty.
Judge Jonathan Gosling said the sentence would run consecutively to the five years and four months Pearson is already serving for conspiring with Tolley to start fires.
He said that Pearson's behaviour surrounding Kingsley Tolley's suicide in July, 2015 was "deeply macabre" in what was an "extraordinary series of events" that had put both men in the dock.
Judge Gosling said Pearson had tried to talk his friend out of what he planned and had later found him, but had then committed a serious criminal act.
He said Pearson had taken the phone from his friend's pocket claiming it was to "protect" Tolley's partner and had thrown it in some bushes.
Pearson had claimed he believed there was material on the phone to help his case at court, but Judge Gosling said he may well have taken the view the material would have damaged his case as the two men had been such close friends.
At court yesterday Pearson, of Station Road, Pontesbury, Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty to removing the phone and obstructing the coroner between July 24 and 18, 2015. He had denied an allegation of perverting the course of justice and Mr Simon Davies, prosecuting, offered no evidence and Judge Gosling recorded a not guilty verdict.
Mr Davies said that Tolley and his partner had been in constant contact by text messages on July 24 and that he had threatened to end his life.
He was later found in a secluded area in woodland near his home in Valiant Road, Albrighton and cell site analysis later established his phone had been in the area that evening.
In January last year Pearson was jailed for conspiring with Tolley to start fires between May and September 2014. At the time the two men were retained firemen.
