A 30-year-old man who pleaded guilty to arson committed with reckless disregard for human life has been jailed today (Friday, 19 September).
Grzegorz Trochowski of no fixed address was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court to two years and two months in prison.
The officer in charge of this case, Detective Constable David Russell from Boston CID, said: “In setting fire to this property, the defendant acted with callous disregard for human life – showing no concern whatsoever for the danger faced by the occupant(s) or indeed adjoining neighbours. He demonstrated zero regard for the devastating consequences that could have unfolded from his reckless actions.
“The fear faced by those within the properties is unimaginable, not knowing if the fire would take hold and consume everything; if they’d be able to keep their loved ones safe – we know that those moments leave scars that no verdict can erase.
“However, we hope that today’s sentencing offers some measure of peace to those whose lives were upended by this reckless act – that it affirms the gravity of what took place that night and allows the victims to begin reclaiming their sense of safety.”
We were called to a disturbance at a property on Barley Drive in Donington at around 9pm on 19 May, where a man had been seen getting out of a silver MG hire car, carrying a crowbar shouting towards one of the houses on the street, then setting light to the front door of one of the properties.
Trochowski was seen to pace back and forth towards the front door of the terraced property, where he threw a glass bottle at the house. The court heard how he squirted a liquid over the door and set it alight. It was said to have extinguished quickly, but he then poured more of the same liquid at the bottom of the door, which he then lit, and the fire then became established.
Also, during this time, Trochowski was said to have hit the door with the crowbar, causing damage to the central glass panel. Neighbours initially came out and put water on the fire before Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue colleagues arrived and extinguished the fire fully, thankfully before too much damage was done or indeed anyone was injured physically.
