Community order for teen who caused £750,000 worth of damage

A teenager has been handed a community order after he admitted committing arson which caused more than £750,000 worth of damage at a Peterborough business.

Kian Setchfield who is now 19, admitted starting a fire at Hotpoint in Celta Road, Fletton, almost five years ago when he was 15 years old.

Emergency services were called in August 2019 with reports of the blaze.

Five other teenagers were arrested the next day.

Setchfield and Craig Allpress, 23, were both charged with arson causing damage worth £754,871 to HGV trailers and their contents, as well as 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.

Setchfield, of Hoylake Drive, Facet, near Peterborough, admitted the offences relating to Hotpoint but denied the other three charges, all of 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 GKL building site. He was cleared of arson.

All three appeared at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday where 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 was given 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.

Detective Sergeant Louis Scott, who investigated, said: “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 chance to reflect and learn from his mistakes.”