Man jailed after he ‘deliberately set fire’ to Horsham house

Police say they were alerted by fire crews when the blaze was discovered in a first floor bedroom at a mid-terrace property in Laughton Road.

Luckily, the occupant - a woman and her two children - were not at home at the time.

Forensic tests showed the fire was deliberately started, and police enquiries led to the arrest of Fabrizio Indovino, 43, a residential care worker, of Denne Parade, Horsham.

Police say that while being interviewed,Indovino denied having been anywhere near the property in the weeks leading up to the fire. But a search of his premises revealed a fuel receipt from the nearby Tesco Express petrol station – CCTV was checked and showed Indovino had filled up a jerry can and cycled with it towards the scene of the fire shortly before it happened.

He was charged with arson and originally denied the offence, and the case was due to go for trial; however he later changed his plea to guilty.

At Hove Crown Court on March 18, Indovino was sentenced to 43 months’ imprisonment. A further charge of arson with intent to endanger life will lie on file.

Detective Constable Stuart Beckett said after the hearing: “This was a mindless act which caused a significant amount of damage to the property, costing tens of thousands of pounds to repair. But it could have been a whole lot worse – thankfully no one was in the house at the time, and the incident was brought under control by the fire service before it could spread any further.”

West Sussex Fire and Rescue spokesman Richard Bradley, said: “Following this fire in May 2017, our fire investigators worked closely with officers from Sussex Police and carried out a thorough investigation of the property.

“It became clear quite quickly that we were dealing with a case of arson, and we were able to support the police as they built their case.

“This incident had the potential to be significantly worse than it turned out to be, which has been recognised by the severity of the sentence handed down to the defendant.”

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