An aggressive neighbour callously repaid the kindness of a well-meaning Good Samaritan who thoughtfully cut his rear lawn for him – by burning down the man’s £70,000 garden room.
The neighbour suddenly discovered the blaze and desperately tried to use a hosepipe to put the flames out but it was too late and the fire was out of control. Another neighbour’s fence was also damaged when the bonfire got out of control and spread, causing a risk to lives, a court heard.
Jack Suddaby, 34, of Downs Crescent, off Priory Road, Hull, admitted an offence of arson, being reckless as to whether the lives of others were endangered. He also admitted arson by damaging the other neighbour’s fence panels on February 22.
David Godfrey, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that the neighbours had previously had a decent relationship over the years but, when Suddaby returned to his property after a short time in prison, he noticed that his rear garden lawn had been cut by the kindly neighbour. Instead of gratitude, he showed aggression and told him off. At about 6.45pm, Suddaby started a bonfire, played loud music and was drinking as he sat by the fire.
The neighbour went to bed in his garden room that evening and believed that the bonfire had been put out. But more fuel had been put on the fire and an orange glow could be seen over the fence.
When he was alerted to the fire, the neighbour rushed out and used a hosepipe to try to stem the spread of the blaze. “But the fire was out of control and there was little the neighbour could do as the garden room was destroyed,” said Mr Godfrey.
(Image: Humberside Police)
The garden room, valued at between £50,000 and £70,000, was reduced to charred remains. Another neighbour’s fence was also destroyed. The fire service was called at 9.27pm. Fire investigators found white vinegar and bleach chemical. The neighbour later said that he was unsettled by Suddaby’s erratic behaviour and he suffered shock at what happened that night.
Richard Butters, mitigating, said that Suddaby did not have a fascination with fire but he had been drinking significant amounts of alcohol. “That seems to be the root of the problem,” said Mr Butters.
“He regrets dreadfully what he did. He feels horrible about it and he is showing genuine remorse.”
Suddaby saw the neighbour’s kind effort to cut his lawn as “an intrusion” that was not wanted. “It all blew up on the day and he had been drinking heavily,” said Mr Butters.
Judge Richard Woolfall said that the neighbour had invested heavily in his garden room to make it lavish and he had installed a wood burner. It was fortunate that the neighbour had not fallen asleep in his garden room bed. “There was no rhyme or reason for it,” he said of the arson offence.
Suddaby was jailed for three years and nine months. As reported in January last year, Suddaby had previously been jailed for 14 months at Hull Crown Court after he admitted careless driving, failing to provide a breath specimen and failing to stop after an accident on June 27, 2023.
He was, at the time, in breach of a 21-month suspended prison sentence imposed on February 3, 2023 after he admitted assaulting his ex-girlfriend, causing actual bodily harm, as well as two offences of assaulting police, others of assault and criminal damage and two offences of possessing drugs.
The earlier hearing was told that Suddaby left a trail of destruction after losing control of his car on a bend at about midnight, demolishing a traffic signpost, careering along a footpath and crashing into walls and fences outside houses.
Suddaby was driving along Goddard Avenue, off Newland Avenue, west Hull, when he lost control of his Vauxhall Merida as he approached a left-hand bend at about midnight. He was driving at such a speed that the car veered towards the opposite pavement and hit a traffic signpost, which was demolished.
The momentum meant that the car continued along the pavement between parked cars and houses and badly damaged front walls or fences at five houses. The car flipped onto its side and Suddaby crawled out of a window before telling a shocked local resident: “I’m fine. I’m all good.”
He fled from the scene but was traced after his wallet, containing bank cards and his driving licence, was found in the debris. He had been drinking before the crash but he later refused to give a breath sample and became difficult and aggressive with police, the court heard that day.
The previous hearing in February 2023 heard that, during the assault, Suddaby attacked his “terrified” girlfriend after accusing her of flirting with another man at a Halloween party in York.
He accused her of playing mind games with him. They left and went home. He stormed upstairs and she followed him. He slammed a door, catching her toe as she was about to enter, and moved towards her in an aggressive way, pushing her head into a wall, making her nose bleed.
Suddaby later flung a door open and “came at her again” – leaving her “terrified” – before dragging her to the top of the stairs and forcefully pushing her down the first three stairs.