Man facing prison after admitting to pub arson (From Worcester News)

Man facing prison after admitting to pub arson

2:50pm Friday 27th January 2012 in News

A 26-year-old man has been told that he will go to prison after he admitted starting a fire in a pub’s beer garden that caused £23,000 damage.

Thomas Meenaghan’s guilty plea came on the third day of his trial at Worcester Crown Court and before the prosecution had finished putting its case.

He admitted simple arson but denied the alternative of arson being reckless whether life was endangered. The jury was discharged after his pleas had been entered.

Meenaghan, of Hangman’s Lane, Hanley Swan, was remanded in custody for psychiatric and probation reports.

Judge Robert Juckes QC told him that the offence of arson was extremely serious and custody was inevitable. He adjourned sentencing until April 13.

Accepting the not guilty plea to recklessness, prosecutor Willam Rickarby said the arson offence happened at night and Meenaghan would not have been aware that there was an occupied property next to the external summer bar at the Star Inn in High Street, Upton-upon-Severn.

Neighbours in Bridge House, William Hawkes and Peggy Ward, were able to leave their home and were unhurt.

The court was told that Meenaghan was urged to go home after licensee Warwick Ellis saw him arguing with a woman.

Meenaghan was not aggressive but a few minutes later fire broke in the summer bar.

Two tyres on Mr Ellis’s Range Rover parked in an alley alongside the pub were found to be deflated.

Mr Rickarby said Meenaghan had been drinking at various pubs in Upton on February 12 last year and appeared angry and upset over a row with a woman.

The application by defence barrister Adam Western for bail was rejected after it was revealed that Meenaghan had 15 convictions for 31 offences since 2002.