Jail for man who set fire to Market Drayton butcher’s van

Jack Boswell had also smashed a rear window at the property of Shepley’s Butchers in Market Drayton in the early hours of April this year.

The incident came just four months after Boswell, 28, had been given a 24-week suspended sentence for assaulting police and criminal damage.

He was jailed for a total of two years and four months at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Boswell, of Wylie Court, Market Drayton, had admitted charges of arson and criminal damage.

Recorder Peter Rouch QC said Boswell had a "bad record", particularly relating to criminal damage, and it was aggravated because it was just four months into the suspended sentence.

He jailed Boswell for two years for the arson offence, three months concurrent for breaking a window and activated four months of suspended sentence.

The court heard that Boswell was seen on CCTV stripping off one layer of clothing and setting it alight inside the cab of a Mercedes Sprinter van belonging to the butcher's on Shrewsbury Road.

Mr Dafydd Roberts, prosecuting, said the smouldering cab of the refrigerated vehicle was seen and the fire service alerted but the cab was burnt out and the van had to be written-off.

It was later discovered that a rear window at rear of the premises had been broken causing £400 damage.

Mr Roberts said Boswell had dropped a set of headphones nearby and his DNA was recovered and he was arrested.

The CCTV footage showed that Boswell was wearing two pairs of trousers and had peeled off track suit bottoms, gained entry to the cab and set the clothing alight.

He said the Mercedes van had been worth £10,000 but the insurance payment was only £5,000.

"The butcher's business had bought the specialised vehicle 12 years ago for around £50,000 and the arson attack had put them to considerable cost to replace the vehicle."

The court heard that Boswell had 21 previous convictions for criminal damage, assaults, possession of drugs and shoplifting.

In December last year he received the suspended sentence for assaulting police officers and the harassment of a former partner.

Mr Brendan Reedy, for Boswell, said his client had a well-paid job as an agricultural tyre technician, but the root cause of his offending was the use of drugs which in April this year had "gone off the scale".