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Kim Blake with mother Janet outside her Grafton Road flat in Kentish Town |
Mum in ‘arson hell’ case cleared
A WOMAN accused of starting fires in her own flat during a bitter housing dispute with Camden Council was cleared of all charges by a crown court jury on Monday.
Disabled single mother Kim Blake, 32, was arrested within weeks of telling the New Journal that the council had refused to rehouse her despite a string of arson attacks on her flat in Grafton Road, Kentish Town, last summer.
The jury at Blackfriars Crown Court returned not guilty verdicts against her indictments for arson and for perverting the course of justice.
Although the arson attacks stopped, Ms Blake has had the court case hanging over her since her arrest in September last year.
Ms Blake said: “I just wanted the attacks to stop, and once it was in the paper it did stop. I am disabled and I have been dragged through the courts. But now I have been cleared of all charges.
“I’m now in a wheelchair, my health is deteriorating rapidly and I have had to go to court, but I was never worried, because I knew I hadn’t done it.”
The letterbox and front door of Ms Blake’s ground-floor disabled-adapted flat had been repeatedly damaged by fires in six incidents that began last June.
Ms Blake, who was seeking to be rehoused by the council at the time, had been in dispute with the housing office about the urgency of her case.
But a council and police investigation into the fires produced covert CCTV footage of a person carrying out one arson attack, and Ms Blake was arrested and charged.
“They said that the woman in the film was me, but it wasn’t,” said Ms Blake.
Following the not guilty verdict, a council press official said: “The council will be considering the outcome of the verdict in this case after discussions with the police.
“At this stage we are unable to state whether further action will be taken and any decision on the next step will be communicated directly to Ms Blake.”
A Met spokeswoman said: “We have exhausted all current inquiries in this case but if new information comes to light we will investigate further.” |
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