Teenage arsonist receives community order for £750,000 blaze in Peterborough
Kian Setchfield, now 19, pleaded guilty to causing substantial damage at a Peterborough business in 2019, and faces an 18-month community order
Last updated 29th Jul 2024
A teenage boy who admitted committing arson resulting in damage exceeding £750,000 at a Peterborough business has been handed a community order.
Kian Setchfield, now 19, confessed to starting a fire at Hotpoint in Celta Road, Fletton, almost five years ago when he was 15 years old. Emergency services were called at about 7pm on 29 August 2019, with reports of the blaze initially estimated to have caused about £2 million worth of damage to 48 trailers. The following day, police arrested five teenagers in connection with the incident.
After a complex investigation, Setchfield and Craig Allpress, 23, were charged in October 2021 with arson, causing damage valued at £754,871 to HGV trailers and their contents, and criminal damage to white goods belonging to Hotpoint. Setchfield was also charged with further offences alongside Nathan Vinden, 24, in connection with an incident at a building site off London Road in Hampton the previous day (28 August). Both were charged with arson causing £20,000 worth of damage at the GKL building site, burglary of an Oasis Welfare Unit at the site, theft of keys to an excavator, and criminal damage to an excavator, fencing, and tools.
Setchfield, of Hoylake Drive, Facet, near Peterborough, admitted to the offences related to Hotpoint but denied the other charges, which were accepted in court. Allpress, of Blackmead, Orton Malborne, Peterborough, denied the charges against him but was found guilty of criminal damage following a trial at Huntingdon Law Court in May this year. He was cleared of arson. Vinden, of Gordon Avenue, Woodston, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was found guilty of burglary following the trial, both relating to the GKL building site. He was cleared of arson.
All three appeared at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (26 July). Setchfield was sentenced to an 18-month community order and must complete 25 days of a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and 30 days of a Thinking Skills Programme. Allpress received a 12-month conditional discharge, meaning if he commits another crime during that period, he can be sentenced for the first offence. Vinden will be sentenced on 1 August.
Four other men, who were all teenagers at the time and arrested as part of the investigation, had no further action taken against them.
Detective Sergeant Louis Scott, who investigated, commented, “This was an incredibly long and complex investigation which has eventually seen convictions for a crime that had a significant impact on a business. The actions of Setchfield were extremely careless, and I hope the last few years have given him a chance to reflect and learn from his mistakes.”