A pair of drunk twin girls who doused themselves in petrol and threatened to blow up a garage in a police stand-off have been jailed. It was only because their lighter was broken that 23 year olds Brittany and Bethany Lee survived after soaking themselves in petrol from three different pumps at the Esso garage in Canterbury, Kent.
Prosecutor Vishal Misra told Canterbury Crown Court: “Officers were made aware of Bethany and Brittany being at Lakeside petrol station in Canterbury. They stated in a phone call to police they planned on killing themselves and blowing the petrol station up. Bethany Lee said she was seeking to set herself on fire and also the Esso petrol station.”
Mr Misra said that 20 minutes after officers arrived at the garage on April 10 the twins threatened to set themselves alight if police came closer. He added: “Bethany was seen with a lighter, trying to discharge the lighter."
After the flame failed to ignite, the girls fled the garage and were arrested following a brief chase. Brittany requested to leave the hearing, as the pair refused to watch CCTV footage of their crime.
The video played in court showed the pair drunkenly pouring petrol over themselves from the three pumps for about five minutes, at around 3am, before being verbally volatile towards police. Fortunately staff deactivated the system and only residual fuel flowed from the nozzles.
Bodycam footage, also played in court, revealed officers describing a “strong smell of fuel” after chasing and arresting the girls.
Brittany, of Hudson Road, Canterbury, and Bethany, of Tyler Hill in Blean, had significant cuts and bruises on their faces when they appeared before the judge. The court heard Brittany has 26 convictions for 54 offences and Bethany 14 convictions for 26 offences.
They are for relatively minor crimes, such as being drunk and disorderly and railway infractions. Psychiatrists ruled the twins did not have psychiatric issues linked to their behaviour. However, their lawyer explained both suffered emotional instability from a young age and self-harmed together, with their actions escalating recently.
Phil Rowley, mitigating for Bethany, said she has had a “troubling and challenging" early life and pleaded guilty at an early opportunity. Charlotte Oliver, mitigating for Brittany, echoed Mr Rowley’s points and added the twins had formed a “destructive alliance.”
Following on from the psychiatric reports, Judge Mark Weekes told the girls their crime was “in large part a desire to seek attention”.
He added: “You ran the risk of killing yourselves, of killing the other sister, or maiming yourselves, or the other sister, or those in the filling station. It must have been a very frightening time for all concerned.”
Brittany and Bethany pleaded guilty to attempted arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered. They were each jailed for three years and nine months at Canterbury Crown Court.
