A woman torched a neighbour's garden decking after wrongly suspecting him of being a paedophile, a court has heard. Ceri-Ann Arthur bought petrol from a garage and set fire to her victim's deck in the middle of the night because he thought he had been filming her daughter with his mobile phone.
Cardiff Crown Court heard police investigated her allegations and found no evidence to support them. A judge told 33-year-old Arthur she should not have taken the law into her own hands.
The court heard the victim and his wife were woken in the early hours of May 16 this year by their son who had heard a loud bang and seen a bright light through the curtains of the Hengoed property. When the couple looked out they saw their decking engulfed in flames. They went out to investigate what was going on and Arthur's daughter, who was in the area, was heard to say: "My mum did that." Police and the fire service were called and the blaze was put out before it could spread to nearby properties but the decking, garden furniture, and a section of fence were destroyed. A petrol can was found on the ground nearby. The court heard the total cost of the damage was almost £7,200.
