Man denies arson attacks on cars

Omar John McGowan, 27, allegedly targeted the motors in six separate incidents on four different nights between June 18 and July 28, 2017.

The cars involved were a VW Golf, a Fiat Punto, a Subaru Impreza, a Renault Scenic, a Lexus, a Mazda, a Renault Twingo, Mitsubishi Colt, a Corsa, two Range Rovers and a Suzuki Swift.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that the affected motors had either been set alight or had been parked close to burning vehicles.

Mr Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, said: "This case is about a spate of arson attacks perpetrated in the summer of 2017 in the Hadley area and targetting cars.

"Initially the police did not have very much to go on, but they had CCTV from three of the incidents where they could see a person, but not their face. After the final set of attacks on July 28 when a car was targeted and a house was damaged, they recovered some matches found on the ground. One match had not been struck.

"The CCTV from that location shows the arsonist seemingly trying to light the matches and burning something.

"Having found those matches the detective constable involved in the case set about making investigations at local shops which sell matches. They were of a particular make. The only place that sells them is the service station at Trench Lock which is walking distance between where the attacks took place and this defendant's house.

"The police also looked at the CCTV and saw that 25 minutes before the arson attack, this defendant was buying matches from that service station. He was arrested and interviewed. He denied being involved in any arson attacks.

Mr Blackman told the jury that checks carried out of the defendant's phone revealed messages to a friend called Ellis Sands, making reference to 'and that blue Subaru too'.

He told the jury that a blue Subaru was damaged in the first wave of attacks on June 18.

He said that forensic tests also found DNA on the discarded match linking McGowan to the scene where it was recovered in July.

Mr Blackman said: "The prosecution says that he even confessed to it. His explanation is that he dropped the matches and someone else must have picked them up and it was that person who was responsible for the arson attacks.

"The prosecution says that this simply is not true."

McGowan, of Aintree Close, Leegomery, denies 10 counts of arson and two counts of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

The trial continues.