Arsonist given six year prison sentence

An arsonist has been sentenced to six years in prison after admitting setting fire to a caravan in Leicester which caused a house to set alight.

Ricky Foulds, 30, of Corfield Rise, Leicester was convicted last month of arson with intent to danger life following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to an additional charge of criminal damage at an earlier hearing at Leicester Crown Court.

Ricky Foulds

He was sentenced to a total of six years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (Thursday 6 June).

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday 7 November, the resident of a house in Webster Road was woken by the sound of noise outside and saw Foulds, who he knew, trying to throw a fence post at a front window.

A short time later, Foulds was seen setting a caravan parked outside the address on fire, which subsequently spread to the house and neighbouring property.

The fire service arrived on scene and extinguished the fire, which destroyed the caravan and as well as causing damage to the guttering and windows of the house.

PC Jason Waterworth, the investigating officer, said: “Foulds actions didn’t just cause significant damage to property but put people’s lives at risk. Thankfully no-one was injured but the outcome could have been very different.”