Arsonist who targeted fringe religious group and torched member's house is jailed

 
Arsonist: Stephen Finch and the Inner Space meditation centre in Chelmsford (Picture: Google StreetView/Essex Police)
Essex Police/Google StreetView
Ramzy Alwakeel22 July 2015
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

An aggrieved former meditation student who targeted a fringe religious group twice has been jailed for five years.

Stephen Finch set fire to two buildings linked to the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University in Chelmsford after vandalising the home and car of a group member in October last year, Chemsford Crown Court heard on Monday.

Finch, who had been a student at the centre during the 1990s, also vandalised the group's Inner Space meditation centre.

He set fire to the Inner Space centre on Boxing Day, pouring petrol through the letterbox and igniting it. The bill for damage ran to tens of thousands of pounds.

Then on January 16 this year, he poured a flammable substance through the letterbox of the Kelvedon Hatch house before setting it alight. The victim's cat suffered from smoke inhalation and

Firefighters had to treat the victim’s cat for smoke inhalation and the blaze again cost tens of thousands of pounds to clean up.

Finch, 53, of The Street, Croxton, in Norfolk, admitted two charges of religiously aggravated criminal damage and two counts of arson being reckless to whether life was endangered when he appeared at court in March.

He was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court this week to four years in jail for each of the arson charges, to run concurrently, and one year for each of the criminal damage charges, to run consecutively.

Maureen Goodman, programme director at the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University's north-west London HQ, told the Standard she did not know why Finch had targeted the organisation, which she said had "benefited hundreds of people in the community helping people to have great peace of mind".

"We honestly don't know what happened that he then had this idea to target us," she added. "We hope we can reach out to him in the future."

Finch was given a restraining order banning him from going to any of the group's centres.

Dc Dan Bennington, who led the investigation for Chelmsford CID, said: "Finch was named by the victims as someone who may have an issue with the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University, but they had not been in contact with him for 15 to 20 years.

"When he was arrested, a search was carried out at his home address and items including a jerry can, lighters, lighter fluid, clothing, and a spray can were found in his car.

"We were able to match some of the items with images captured on CCTV of the suspect on October 19 and January 16."

Ds Nathan Hutchinson, of Chelmsford CID, said: "Finch is a troubled man who could have put lives in danger with his actions.

"He will be well monitored by the authorities and it is reassuring for the victims that the judge has put in place an extensive restraining order to protect them from Finch."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in