A man described as being "obsessed'' with pandemic restrictions who burned down a nightclub to stop them asking for COVID-19 passports for entry, was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday (December 8).
Owen Marshall, 29, set fire to a petrol soaked towel and posted it through the letterbox of SWX in his native Bristol.
Marshall also delivered a letter to the home of the city's Mayor, Marvin Rees, claiming responsibility for the arson attack. In the letter he said he intended to it to be a warning to other venues.
He later threw a brick through a window of the Barley Mow pub with a note attached claiming vaccine passports were a breach of human rights.
In another incident on August 2, meanwhile, another nightclub, Lakota, received a handwritten saying it would "sustain substantial damage like SWX" if it introduced Covid passports.
Police tracked the movements of a man seen starting the fire back to a shop where Marshall had bought a box of matches.
He was subsequently identified following a public appeal before being arrested.
Marshall pleaded guilty to charges of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered, criminal damage and making threats to cause criminal damage at a hearing at Bristol Crown Court in September, and was sentenced for the three offences at the same court.
PC David Stevenson said: "Owen Mashall’s actions were motivated by the completely misguided belief the venues he targeted were about to introduce Covid vaccine passports.
"His obsession with Covid restrictions ultimately led him to carrying out the extremely reckless attack on SWX and it is only through sheer luck no one was physically harmed.
"Staff had been at the venue just hours before and they could easily still have been inside when he used an accelerant to start the fire.
“More than 130 fire service personnel were also put at risk tackling the resulting blaze which took several hours to extinguish.''
He added: "The attack has had a devastating impact on the club and the three businesses based below it with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage and lost revenue caused.
"These were businesses which had all suffered as result of the pandemic and which were looking forward to serving their community once more only for their livelihoods to again be put in jeopardy.
"While Marshall has never explained his actions, I am pleased he ultimately accepted responsibility as it negated the need for a trial."
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
