Man jailed for South Gloucestershire arson series

A man who set fire to 20 vehicles causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage has been jailed.

Daniel Cron, 26, of Filton, appeared at Bristol Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday 11 January) where he was sentenced to three years in prison having pleaded guilty to 21 counts of arson – 20 vehicles and a fence – at a previous hearing.

Cron, along with an as yet unidentified man, set fire to both private and commercial vehicles in the Bradley Stoke and Stoke Gifford areas of South Gloucestershire in the early hours of 3 April last year.

A large number of the vehicles were minibuses which belonged to a community group which provided transport services for vulnerable adults and children.

Following the incident, detectives appealed for the public’s help to identify CCTV footage which could aid their investigation.

Dozens of people submitted footage from their private CCTV, doorbell cameras and dashcam.

Using the footage, officers then tracked Cron and the other man as he set fire to the vehicles over a three-and-a-half-hour period.

Inspector Steve Davey, of Operation Remedy, said: “Cron has never offered any explanation for his actions and it was only by sheer luck that nobody was seriously injured or killed.

“While no one was hurt, vulnerable members of the community lost a vital transport resource while the community group which owned the minibuses along with other motorists suffered a significant financial hit and the inconvenience of replacing their vehicles.”

He added: “We’re extremely grateful for the support we received from the public following our appeals. Their help in providing us with footage saved a lot of valuable police time and enabled us to quickly put together a route Cron and the other man took and provided the evidence we needed to secure this conviction.”