Man jailed for over two years for setting fire to historic Knaresborough pub

Stephen Pearson, 45, had travelled from Devon on a sight-seeing trip to the historic North Yorkshire town where he had been raised as a child, York Crown Court heard.

He intended to take in some of the town’s cultural attractions but ended up in Wetherspoon’s and then Blind Jack’s pub in Market Place where he was bizarrely handing out flyers to customers who complained about his menacing and strange behaviour, said prosecutor Dan Cordey.

“The barman asked him to leave and (noticed) he smelled of cannabis and appeared to stumble,” added Mr Cordey.

Pearson, who had drunk up to eight pints of beer, left for another pub without further ado but missed his last train and ended up sleeping in the grounds of Knaresborough Castle, one of the landmarks he had planned to visit to rekindle “happy childhood memories” of the town.

He woke up at about 4am, feeling “cold and angry” at being kicked out of Blind Jack’s, and decided to head back to the 400-year-old pub.

In an alleyway nearby, he picked up a bin bag full of paper or rubbish.

CCTV showed pony-tailed Pearson, an alcoholic with mental-health issues, placing the bin bag next to the front door of the pub, near the Blind Jack statue, and trying to set fire to the bag with a cigarette lighter, but this failed initially and he walked away.

He returned 10 minutes later, this time lighting a piece of paper which he used to set fire to the rubbish bag, which “quickly flared up” against the door and the front of the pub, “blistering” the paintwork.

A member of the public spotted the blaze and called the fire service who were on the scene in minutes.

“The fire was put out quickly but it had already caused damage to the door and surrounding woodwork, wiring and (the pub) signage,” said Mr Cordey.

Smoke damage was caused to the pub’s interior. The total repair bill came to £15,235.

Mr Cordey said the pub owner, Christian Ogley, would normally have been upstairs with his wife, but on this occasion they were staying at a friend’s house while the pub was being refurbished.

About an hour later, Pearson was spotted on CCTV walking down Market Place, where he was arrested.

He was taken in for questioning and told police he had only intended to leave the owner with a “bag of mess” at the front of his property “for revenge”.

Mr Cordey said Pearson had travelled to Knaresborough for a week’s holiday but the weather was bad, so he ended up going on a pub crawl at Wetherspoon’s, Blind Jack’s and The Cross Keys in the town centre.

Pearson, of Pinhoe Road, Exeter, was charged with arson and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered and admitted the offence.

He also admitted assaulting a nurse at Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital in February.

He appeared for sentence on both matters today.

In a statement read out in court, pub landlord Mr Ogley said the arson had affected him and his wife “financially and emotionally”.

He said they were “absolutely devastated” that someone had done such a thing to a “400-year-old market pub” which they bought in 2017.

“We had been renovating (the pub) for the past four years,” he added.

“This building is Grade II-listed due to its beauty and age (and) the frontage is original.

"It’s one of the most photographed properties in town.”

Mr Ogley said that despite paying for the repairs through his insurance, the “extensive” fire damage to the door and the front of the building was still evident and had deterred people from visiting.

The fire had cracked the pub’s original glass panes which was a “horrendous reminder of what happened, and the burnt smell still lingers”, he added.

He also had to install a new alarm system because the original one had been “burnt out” by the fire.

He said he and his wife had had to force themselves to sleep upstairs after the blaze and were now “constantly checking CCTV cameras and looking through windows at night”.

“The hurt of this attack made us feel unsafe and caused us much anxiety,” he added.

“We are unsure if we can continue (running the pub).”

The assault on the nurse in Devon occurred on February 1, when Pearson was living in a tent.

He had turned up at the hospital in the early hours of the morning for “no apparent medical need, complaining of being cold”.

When medical staff tried to take his blood pressure, he punched a male nurse in the jaw with enough force to send him reeling backwards.

Defence barrister George Hazel-Owram said that Pearson - who has previous convictions for offences including drink-related disorder - had been homeless for “a long period of time” due to his alcoholism and mental-health problems including depression, which stemmed from the breakdown of a past relationship and the death of his father earlier this year.

He said that Pearson, who was currently living in supported accommodation in Devon, was genuinely remorseful for the arson attack.

Judge Simon Hickey said the arson had clearly had a “drastic” effect on the victims who had been trying to rebuild their business following the Covid lockdowns.

He told Pearson, who is a father, that he would have had “no idea” if anybody was asleep at the property when he torched it.

He described the incident as “harrowing” and had left the pub frontage, including original fixtures, with a “shabby, burnt appearance”.

Pearson was jailed for two years and seven months.