Judge blasts 'immensely selfish' arsonist who set fire to HMP Five Wells cell - then stayed in bed rather than come to court
A prisoner who twice set fire to his cell ‘puts himself front and centre of his own life’, a furious crown court judge said.
Paul Turnbull refused to get out of bed for his sentencing hearing at Northampton Crown Court on Friday (April 11).
The 30-year-old had pleaded guilty to two arsons at HMP Five Wells back in February.
But he refused to come to court or even to the video link room for sentencing, instead choosing to lie in his bed.
Although he had been asked to complete a psychiatric assessment before sentencing, he had declined to co-operate and the medic had been unable to write a report.
He was first due to be sentenced at Northampton Crown Court in March but didn’t turn up and Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking ordered that he could be sentenced without an assessment.
During the sentencing hearing on Friday, with an empty dock in court four, His Honour Judge Mayo heard that, on July 20 last year, guards responded to a fire alarm coming from Turnbull’s cell at the Wellingborough super-prison after he set used an adapted vape to set fire to clothes and paper on his bed.
When officers looked through the hatch they saw the cell ablaze.
Misters inside the cell were not working so staff had to use a hose to put out the fire
Prosecuting barrister Sarah Thorne said: “They manged to get the defendant out.
"The valuation of the damage was in the region of £2,073.”
Nine days later, on July 29, Turnbull again set fire to clothing in his cell. This time, in-built misters extinguished the fire.
Damage worth £2,618 was caused.
The court was told that the defendant has 52 convictions on his record including for criminal damage and harassment. Mitigating for Turnbull, advocate Dan Svoronos told the court that his client had first been incarcerated when he was just ten years old.
He said he had been frustrated that his antidepressants had not been available for five weeks after he arrived at Five Wells and was also upset that he hadn’t received a TV in his cell.
"He was very frustrated,” said Mr Svoronos. “He wanted to see a mental health practitioner.”
Turnbull, formerly of Normanton, Derbyshire, was in jail after he repeatedly bombarded his former partner with up to 50 phonecalls a day in breach of a restraining order.
DerbyshireLive reported that he was given a 38 month prison sentence at Derby Crown Court after his victim said that she had been so scared of him that she had had to move away from her home town.
His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo said: “He’s chosen not to attend today. He’s fit and well and lying on his bed in his cell, and refuses to come to the video room.
"I’m satisfied that at the moment he’s not suffering from any significant mental impairment.
"He’s a man whose behaviour is anti-social, violent and harassing when he doesn’t get what he wants.
"He doesn’t want to attend today. He puts himself front and centre of his own life.
"One could be forgiven for calling him and immensely selfish man.
“His actions were manifestly selfish and could have caused immense harm to other people.
"They are contained in prison and there’s a fire.. I can’t think of anything more scary to be involved in.”
He said there had been significant planning on Turnbull’s part as he would have had to adapt the vape to set fire to the items.
Reducing Turnbull’s sentence to acknowledge his guilty pleas, he gave him four years in prison. He will have to serve half of it in custody before he is released.