Cops in arson probe as meat trailers hit
Nov 12 2002

By The Evening Chronicle

Animal rights activists were today being blamed for a £30,000 arson attack at a Tyneside factory.

Police probing the blaze at the Baron of Beef plant first feared Britain's worst serial firestarters had struck again.

But detectives are now playing down any link between last night's attack and the unsolved £17m spate of blazes started across the region.

Instead, it is suspected animal activists may have torched the two lorry trailers destroyed at the company's depot on the North Tyneside Industrial Estate.

Company chief Greg Wallace, 43, said: "I think it is more likely that this was a strike against the meat industry by extremists. I have had things like dead rats sent to me in the post."

"They got in before our security guard came on duty, but I am now electrifying the fence and getting 24-hour protection.

"This will not affect our business. We will be back up and running once the police have carried out their search."

The arsonists crept into the secure compound and set fire to a refrigerator trailer filled with meat at around 8.20pm. Flames then spread to another trailer.

Detectives have started a forensic examination at the scene to find out how the blaze was started.

Det Chief Insp Frank Gallop, of Wallsend CID, said: "We are conducting a forensic investigation in daylight, looking at how they got into the compound and examining CCTV from premises on the industrial estate, as well as the nature of the business."

A team of 15 firefighters spent two hours putting out the blaze and protecting factory buildings - some of which contained compressed gas cylinders.

A team of 40 detectives is working to catch the suspected two-man fire-raising team who target haulage yards at night, cutting through fencing, smashing cabs with steel ball bearings, pouring accelerant inside the vehicles, and setting them alight.

A driver at Simpson Brothers Transport in West Way Industrial Estate, Throckley, nearly died in an attack on May 7 when he smelled petrol being poured into his cab.

Grainy images of two men were caught on CCTV after the last blaze at Benfield Motors in Scotswood Road on May 20.

Truckers and their families were asked to help police catch the arsonists during an appeal on BBC's Crimewatch.

Huge damage toll

June 14, 2001. Newcastle City Council's Cityworks depot, Rothbury Terrace, Heaton. £2 million damage to 23 refuse collection wagons.

September 8, 2001. Ten lorries destroyed at the Owen Pugh depot in Cramlington Road, Dudley. £500,000 damage.

October 21, 2001. New County Road Surfacing, Penshaw Way, Portobello Industrial Estate in Birtley. £310,000 damage to six road surfacing vehicles.

November 3, 2001. Union Trucks on the Camperdown Industrial Estate, Killingworth, destroyed. 15 vehicles and trailers torched, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds in damage.

November 4, 2001. An attack on the Be Modern transport depot on the Bede Industrial Estate in South Shields. Six fully loaded trucks destroyed, another four damaged, causing £500,000 damage.

December 16, 2001. Ten separate blazes in cabs at a lorry park next to the JP Simpson Malting Plant, Berwick.

March 4, 2002. Cityworks refuse depot in Condercum Road, Benwell, torched. Nine bin wagons damaged costing £1.5 million damage.

May 7, 2002. Simpson Brothers Transport, Throckley. Eight trucks damaged, but no fires started.

May 20, 2002. Benfield Motors on Scotswood Road, Newcastle, suffered more than £300,000 damage when 16 vehicles, including commercial vans, were torched.