Gran's house torched over drug debt to gang, court told

A grandmother's house was set on fire and completely destroyed in a 'targeted attack' over a drug debt, a court has been told.

A teenage girl is on trial after being accused of starting a fire in a terraced house in the Rhondda Valley which led to a number of properties being evacuated. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

Storm Truman, 19, has been charged with committing arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, after a property in Protheroe Street, Ferndale, was set on fire on July 28 last year. The defendant denies the charge and is due to appear at a trial at Cardiff Crown Court today.

Prosecutor Marian Lewis, told the court: “This was not an accidental fire, the house was deliberately set alight.

“It was a targeted attack carried out in the early hours of the morning when it was highly likely someone would have been asleep inside the house.”

She later went on to recount some of the background to the fire, adding: “The occupier Carol Ford’s grandson owed a significant drug debt to an organised crime gang.

“This group had travelled from Weston-super-Mare seeking retribution for the failure of Gavin Ford to pay this significant debt to the group.

“The targeted house was his grandmother’s Carol Ford. It is believed this was the motive for this fire.

“Shortly before the fire, Mrs Ford’s former daughter-in-law, mother of Gavin, had received threats on her phone days before the fire.”

Jurors heard that Gavin Ford’s mother, Tracey Ford, received WhatApp messages from an unknown person.

The messages read: “Tell your son Gavin to pay up and make contact before the s*** hits the fan”. They also messaged: “I’m the wrong person to be ignored”.

Tracey Ford also received a screenshot containing personal details of her family and extended family.”

The court heard how Mrs Ford was sleeping in the early hours of July 28 when she was disturbed by hearing noises directly outside her window. She heard a loud bang and saw her blinds were burning. She went into the hallway and saw fire coming from the front door.

Mrs Ford managed to get out of the house through the back door and into her back garden. She was only dressed in her nighty and underwear. She had been unable to grab shoes or slippers.

The court then heard how Mrs Ford managed to climb steep steps to the top of the garden to escape the blaze. She saw her kitchen blown out by the flames and the smoke.

Her neighbours heard her screaming and climbed to the top of their garden in order to provide her with assistance. The emergency services were called and the police and fire services arrived quickly on the scene, and Mrs Ford was escorted to safety.

A statement from Carol Ford was read out to the court. In it, Mrs Ford said: “The night of the fire, before it happened, was just a normal day. Before the fire I was sleeping fast when something disturbed me. I woke up and sat on the edge of my bed.

“I heard a bang, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get out of my house.

“The loud bang alerted me to turn around and see my blinds burning.

“I am extremely immobile due to health issues, how I got out of my house and into the back garden, I will never know.

“Neighbours heard my screaming and came to help me. I managed to get out of my home in my nighty and knickers, that’s all I had, no shoes or slippers, there was no time.

“I couldn’t believe what had happened, I was very traumatised.

“The noise I heard sounded like fireworks going off, the windows smashed and I saw the kitchen window blow out by flames and black smoke. I was so frightened.”

The prosecution case is that five people were involved, three men who actually set fire to the house and two people who drove the men to Ferndale from Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.

Ms Lewis said: “Storm Truman, the prosecution allege, was one of those drivers.

“We say her role in this enterprise was to be an accessory, someone who helped the culprits to commit the offence and also to drive them away from the scene when that offence had been committed.”

The court heard Alfie Wheeler, Auryn Gustur, and Connor Pitt have pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life.

Lewis Manito has pleaded guilty to arson being reckless whether life was endangered and perverting the course of justice, by disposing of the vehicle he drove.

Ms Lewis said: “What the prosecution say as far as Ms Truman is concerned is she was an accessory, she drove two of the men there, Mr Wheeler and Mr Gustur, whilst Mr Manito drove Mr Pitt to the location.

“What the prosecution say is that this incident couldn’t have happened without her because she drove them there.”

Carol Ford was 82 at the time of the fire, a widow who had been living at her home in Protheroe Street for 61 years.

Ms Lewis said: “Her home, as you can imagine, was full of her lifetime possessions and memories. She lived there alone, she felt safe there and it was where she wanted to end her days peacefully but everything changed in a split second on July 28 last year.

“She lost everything, she could have lost her life. For the past two years she had been sleeping downstairs in her home. She had poor mobility.”

The first police officer at the scene on the night of the fire was PC Carl Danter, who saw the house was engulfed in flames and he raised his sirens in order to wake up residents in the street.

Ms Lewis told the court that the fire was so intense that flames were reaching the roof.

The court then heard how the police sought CCTV footage from neighbours, and found footage which showed the rear of a white Seat Ibiza turning outside a house in Protheroe Street.

Another piece of footage showed three people getting out of the Seat and wearing black balaclavas.

They could be seen to approach Mrs Ford’s house and the sound of banging and smashing could be heard, and suddenly there was a burst of flames.

Jurors also heard how the white Seat Ibiza was stopped by a stinger device which deflated the tyres.

Storm Truman was in the driver’s seat and also in the car was Wheeler, Gustur, and Pitt.

A search of the car resulted in the discovery of a machete, hammer, black gloves and a balaclava.

The Sat Nav was examined and one of the addresses on the device was Protheroe Street in Ferndale, the court heard.

The Seat was registered to Truman and she was the insured driver. Truman was arrested and interviewed at Bridgend police station.

The court was told that during the interview, she provided a prepared statement in which she accepted being the driver, saying she had been asked to give Wheeler and Gustur a lift but claimed she had no idea about what was planned.

Truman, of Hosegood Drive, Weston-super-Mare has pleaded not guilty to committing arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and the trial continues.