A FORMER pub landlord says he has been let down by the courts after an arsonist who caused £25,000 damage to his pub escaped with a suspended prison sentence.
Danny Stuart, who ran Chambers through his company Bar 101 Limited, said Tina Smethurst should have been given a prison sentence after admitting arson and criminal damage after throwing a cigarette.
Instead she was was given a 26-week prison term, suspended for a year, given a 12-month community order, ordered to pay £250 in compensation and £85 costs.
Mr Stuart said: “The sentence is disgusting.
“The police have been very efficient in collating information and bringing her to trial. But I feel the courts have let me and the police down with the sentence that has been passed.
“I just can’t understand why it didn’t go to crown court for the higher sentence, because of the severity of the charge.
“After all the break-ins and arson attacks on businesses in the town centre, the court had an opportunity to set the bar high and make an example of her.
“But it has opened the floodgates for all other petty arsonists that are already present in the town.”
Mr Stuart said the fire, in June, had been a contributing factor to last Tuesday’s closure of the pub and the liquidation of his company, even though he had battled to reopen it two days after the blaze.
He said: “There was a lot more damage than it actually looked like. I personally spent £15,000 to get it back up and running and I was going to claim that back off insurance but I can’t claim it back because I’ve had to liquidate the company.”
He said another contributing factor was a review back in February after a man was assaulted. He said the pub lost £20,000 in revenue after trading hours were cut.
Mr Stuart said his lease on the pub had been due to end on November 5, but he made the decision to close it early. He said the brewery which owns the building was looking at bringing in a new tenant, and a temporary management company would be brought in in the next couple of weeks.
Smethurst, of St George’s Road, near Locke Park, appeared at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court on Monday where she was sentenced for the arson incident, which took place at around 5.20am.
A pile of rubbish, which had been in a plastic wheelie bin at the side of the pub, was on fire when fire crews arrived.
Chantel Lowery-Green, prosecuting, said the fire spread to the main building, damaged electrical cables, an air conditioning unit and items in the bar areas causing substantial damage.
Smethurst, 43, initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of arson at a previous hearing but she then entered a guilty plea at a later date and admitted causing criminal damage by fire on a reckless basis, indicating that she had not intended the fire to start.
Philip Howard, defending, said: “She had had a lot to drink and as Miss Smethurst has a psychiatric condition, she often walks in Barnsley town centre to relieve depressive thoughts.
“She recalls being around Chambers and went down an alleyway at the side of the premises. She urinated and threw the cigarette over her shoulder, not knowing it had landed in the pile of rubbish.
“She did not think more of it until she noticed fire crews responding to the incident. I must emphasise the fact that she did not have any intention of causing the fire.”
