Girl, 13, started store fire

A 13-year-old girl started a fire which destroyed a supermarket after failing to find any discarded beer outside the store, a court has been told.

The Safeway store in Taunton, Somerset, where some staff were still working when the blaze was started in a stack of cardboard outside, had to be rebuilt at a cost of £8.2m.

The girl, who was living in a children's home at the time of the fire in last September, was sentenced to 18 months' detention at Taunton Crown Court on Friday.

The girl will be released under licence in a month because of the time she has already spent in custody.

I accept it never entered your mind the store would burn down

Judge Stephen O'Malley

The teenager, currently in a secure unit for young people, appeared for sentence after admitting at an earlier hearing three charges of arson and one of attempted arson between July and September last year.

Judge Stephen O'Malley said that the fire had "led to catastrophic losses for all sorts of people".

He told the girl: "I accept it never entered your mind the store would burn down."

Diesel fuel

Prosecutor Ian Dixey told the court that in July last year the girl set fire to paper soaked in diesel fuel at a garage in Taunton late at night, but the flames did not catch.

She admitted attempting to light a fire, and was released after being interviewed by the police.

The following month, in Yeovil, Somerset, she set fire to an industrial waste bin outside a shop and later admitted doing so, but was unable to give a reason, said Mr Dixey.

On 15 September, she and three others from a childrens' home in Taunton went after 2300 BST to a Safeway store "because they knew on occasions beer which had passed its sell-by date could be found at the back", the prosecutor said.

There was no beer, but there was a stack of cardboard to which the defendant set fire.

Staff inside

"It appears from what she was to say they left Safeway not appreciating the cardboard had taken hold," Mr Dixey went on.

The blaze was discovered about 0100 BST, when six staff were inside preparing for opening the following day.

A total of 25 fire appliances fought the blaze at the store, which suffered "irreparable structural damage", said Mr Dixey.

The girl later denied having any intent to deliberately burn the store down, and she was unaware there were people inside.

Defence counsel Alan Large said the girl had led a life of "chaos and turmoil" and had had 30 different carers and 70 different placements.