Murton family targeted in triple car arson attack vendetta

Mark Baird drove the same man to the vicinity of all three fire-raising incidents, in Murton, County Durham, and also to a nearby garage where petrol was purchased for use in the crimes.

Durham Crown Court heard that the targeted attacks took place on vehicles parked outside the same address, in Woods Terrace, over a few weeks in late 2020.

Claire Anderson, prosecuting, said the householder, who lived there with his partner and children at the time, had complained of problems of anti-social behaviour caused by drug users in the area, with needles being discarded in gardens.

As a result, he had built a fence around his home to prevent it happening near his family’s home.

Miss Anderson said the man's partner parked her white Volkswagen Tiguan outside the property overnight on November 11 into 12, and at 3.15am awoke to see the car on fire.

As a hose was kept outside her partner managed to control the blaze until the fire brigade arrived to extinguish it completely.

Examination of CCTV footage in the area showed a minibus passing five minutes before the fire, then a man was seen pouring petrol onto the engine of her car and setting it alight.

The next incident was on November 29 when the resident was awoken in the early hours by his daughter telling him that a Volkswagen Combo van parked outside the address was on fire.

He went down and managed to put the fire out and was burned on the leg, but not severely, in doing so as the vehicle rolled towards him.

A red minibus was seen being driven nearby at about the time of the fire, which was started by a man pouring “considerable amounts” of petrol into the engine.

Miss Anderson said the victim suspected the fires had something to do with the issues he had with some local residents.

Five males had been seen hanging around his home and one was heard to say: “You are going to have to mask up, he’s watching.”

In the following weeks family members adopted the policy of leaving their vehicles away from the property but on Christmas Day that year a relative parked outside as she dropped people off and was carrying presents.

Miss Anderson said at 5.30am she woke to find the Vauxhall Corsa on fire.

Once again, nearby cctv picked up Baird’s minibus having been driven in the area, while a petrol container was found beside the fire-hit Corsa.

Police inquiries traced the red minibus to a Sunderland taxi company, which leased the vehicle to the defendant for the six months until it was returned to them in January 2021.

The company’s work system had registered fares logged in Murton at the time of each fire.

Miss Anderson said Baird was arrested on January 15, 2021, and, following an interview with police a month later, he confessed that he was, “clearly the driver”, and, “was daft to get involved”.

But she said that he added that he just wanted to get the person involved with each of the attacks, “out of his life”.

A name was put to him by police and in reply Baird said they were, “on the right lines”.

In an impact statement read to the court the male householder said the whole saga stemmed from an altercation with two males in which he was “trying to protect my family”, but he said in response, his home was threatened and he feared it would be targeted next.

He added: “We can’t even park our vehicles outside for fear of this happening.”

His partner said she thought it all arose from them erecting the fence to protect their children from the needles and such like.

She said she became used to waking to the sound of a car alarm.

Miss Anderson said the now 40-year-old defendant, who was 37 at the time, has just four convictions for four offences on his record, the last being in 2007 and all dealt with at magistrates’ court level.

It was confirmed to the court that the suspect believed to have been responsible for starting the fires, who is from the Hendon area of Sunderland, died recently at the age of 50.

Baird, of Oswald Terrace West, Castletown, Sunderland, previously denied charges arising from the arson attacks, but, ahead of his listed trial, in November, his guilty pleas to three counts of assisting an offender were accepted by the Crown.

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Susannah Proctor, for Baird, said he had only reluctantly became involved in the offences and felt pressured to take part by the man responsible.

Judge James Adkin said despite that, he had played a significant part by ferrying the man responsible to the scene and to purchase the petrol used, then afterwards helping him to get away from the area.

Imposing a 21-month prison sentence on Baird, Judge Adkin said there appeared to have been some significant planning and pre-meditation behind each attack, which were aggravating features of the offending.