Padiham arsonist set fire to his ex’s home (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

Padiham arsonist set fire to his ex’s home

1:00pm Thursday 12th July 2012 in Burnley By Chris Gee, Reporter

A MAN who set fire to his ex-girlfriend’s home after making threats against her has been handed a 26-month jail sentence.

Sean Ormerod, 35, of Ingham Street, Padiham, admitted setting light to his ex-partner Donna Lee’s house, while she was at home with her 22-year-old daughter, Jenna.

The blaze destroyed an extension, and badly damaged the rest of the house in Altham Street, Padiham.

Although Ormerod was handed a jail sentence, he walked free from court after the proceedings due to the length of time he has spent in custody since his arrest.

Preston Crown Court heard that Ormerod had previously been in a relationship with Miss Lee, which had ended in 2009.

However, prosecutor Alison Mather said he ‘had difficulty coming to terms with the break-up’.

He had been made the subject of a restraining order, and was banned from contacting her, after admitting harassment charges.

At 11.45pm on the day of the attack, in February last year, Ormerod had spoken to a mutual friend, Tracey Leonard, the licensee of Padiham members’ club Molly Rigby’s.

After being refused entry because it was thought he was drunk, he told her: “Tell your mate Donna that the next time she sees me I will be burning her house down.”

At 5am the following day, Jenna Lee awoke to find smoke filling the house, and the rear extension on fire.

She and her mother escaped the blaze without injury.

Ormerod pleaded guilty to a charge of arson earlier this year.

Victim impact statements were read to the court from both Donna and Jenna Lee, saying that the incident, and fear of Ormerod, had forced them to be “displaced from their home, family and friends”.

They have both since moved away from Padiham, where they had lived all their lives, as a result of the case.

Judge Gibson placed a five-year restraining order on Ormerod, which forbids him to contact Donna or Jenna Lee, or knowingly to go within 100 yards of their home.