A man who set fire to a Grade II-listed 16th Century timber framed manor house, Wythenshawe Hall, Greater Manchester leaving it partly destroyed, has been jailed.
image Friends of Wythenshawe
Newspaper reports indicate that:
Jeremy Taylor, 28, of Cheadle Hulme, admitted arson and was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Manchester Crown Court. After the sentencing hearing, Gary Logan, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Taylor was prosecuted after DNA and CCTV evidence linked him to the crime’.
After starting five fires at the building, which had survived for five centuries, he headed home nearby in the early hours of 15 March last year. The flames spread through the entrance hall, to the first and second floors and out through the roof, destroying the bell tower. At its height, 50 firefighters tackled the blaze at Wythenshawe Hall in Greater Manchester on 15 March 2016. The roof and upper floor were left completely gutted. After the flames were extinguished two days later, fire and police investigators found three matches. DNA on one of them matched Taylor to the crime scene.
Wythenshawe Hall was the home of the Tatton family for hundreds of years. Its history includes being besieged by parliamentary forces during the civil war. The property and its grounds house a museum and art gallery. The hall, built in 1540, was gifted to the city of Manchester in 1926 by a philanthropist. It was staffed by volunteers and used to teach local schoolchildren about their history and heritage. The stately home is owned by Manchester City Council, which is partly funding the repairs, along with money from insurance and charity fundraising.
The taxpayers’ bill for repair and restoration work is estimated to be up to £5.2m. Paul Selby, vice-chairman of the Friends of Wythenshawe Hall said repair work was progressing ‘slowly’ and the ‘lengthy process’ must be approved by Historic England. Unique stained glass windows damaged in the fire were also being replaced, he said. He added: ‘It won’t be until we get the scaffolding down that people will be able to see its beauty, and the progress that’s been made.’
Read more at BBC News and The Guardian and see the background at IHBC NewsBlogs
See also IHBC’s prosecutions database and commentary
Visit the Friends of Wythenshawe Hall website
