Two arsonists have been jailed for setting fire to a brewery in Harrogate causing up to £17,000 worth of damage.
John Christopher Brown and Scott Spurr were loitering around Harrogate Brewing Company in Hookstone Chase before throwing a “flammable item” into the grounds, causing a blaze which quickly got out of control and tore through the compound, York Crown Court heard.
The fire melted two Portaloos and several beer kegs and smoke infiltrated the brewery itself as the two “drunken idiots” ran off, said prosecutor Rob Galley.
Firefighters arrived at the scene after the arsonists themselves called 999 shortly after the blaze took hold in the middle of the night.
They brought the fire under control, but severe damage had been caused to the family-run business which was already reeling from the covid pandemic.
CCTV footage of the incident at about 11pm on October 6 last year showed the two men climbing over the fence at the edge of the brewery. One of them remained on the outside and lobbed a “lit piece of something”, possibly a lit cigarette or papers, into the compound.
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A flash of light could be seen on the footage before the two men ran away.
The blaze caused between £14,000 and £17,000 of damage. The heat was so intense that the Portaloos had melted an inch into the ground.
Brown and Spurr, both 22 years of age, were later arrested and identified from the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incident. The two Harrogate men appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting to the offence.
Mr Galley said:
“Two Portaloos were melted and unrecognisable.
“Several beer kegs melted (and there was) damage to the cooling system (used for refrigeration). There was damage to (the brewery) windows.”
‘Went up like an inferno’
Owner Martin Joyce, who was finance director at Rossett School in Harrogate before buying the brewery, said the scene when he arrived the following morning was “horrendous”.
The toilets and stock room inside the building had suffered smoke damage and the windows had melted.
Damage had been caused to stock and the rooms needed complete redecoration. The Portaloos, thought to be the source of the fire, “went up like an inferno”.
Mr Joyce, who only bought the business in January last year, said the incident had a “huge and traumatic effect” on his family.
He said the business had lost £5,000 in takings alone because he was initially unable to reopen the tap room.
Despite insurance pay-outs for the damage, they were still left with a loss of about £4,000 and their premiums had doubled.
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The business – which produces award-winning craft ales to bars and clubs in North Yorkshire – was still dealing with structural damage caused by the blaze, notably melted plastic which had seeped into the drainage system.
Mr Joyce, known to friends and colleagues as Joe, said he had “no idea what the motive was”.
Adam Walker, for Spurr, said his client was a hard-working man with no previous convictions.
He was “truly remorseful” for the attack which was carried out while he was “heavily in drink”.
Alasdair Campbell, for Brown, said his client had acted like an “immature, drunken idiot” but that he had tried to put the fire out before fleeing.
Judge Sean Morris blasted the two men for “setting fire to somebody’s livelihood”.
He added:
“These people worked hard to set up their business and you set fire to it.
“What resulted was serious economic impact to their business and it’s had a devastating effect on their lives. You two were a pair of drunken idiots that night.”
Brown, of Avenue Place, and Spurr, of Prospect Road, were each jailed for nine months.
