A policeman has been commended for his actions in catching a security guard who set fire to a house he was supposed to be guarding

A judge at Chelmsford Crown Court said PC Graham Lant should be thanked for his "quick thinking and very good detective work" after a fire at a housing development in Braintree.

The officer had been called to the Bovis site at Marks Farm at about 4am last July after security guard Warren Cook phoned police and said two men had set fire to one of the houses being built.

PC Lant, who spent seven years in the Braintree division, said: "I am very pleased. It is always nice to be recognised for what we or other people might take as just routine work, so I am flattered. It is very much appreciated."

PC Lant, 41, a dog handler based at Colchester, was in Braintree for another incident and was first to the scene.

Cook, 20, claimed the men had held his head over a fire and demanded keys to the site but the court heard how PC Lant became suspicious when he went to the house with Cook.

"The officer noticed dust on the floor and there was a distinctive pattern in the dust made from the sole of a boot with a v-shaped pattern," Gareth Hughes, prosecuting, said.

"The officer asked to see the sole of Cook's shoes and the patterns matched."

Cook, of Twelve Acres, Braintree, was arrested and he told police later he had panicked after he fell asleep in the house and a cigarette had set fire to some paper.

But the court heard a fire expert found the fire could not have been started in this way.

Cook admitted a charge of arson on July 7 when he appeared in court for sentence and was given an 18-month community rehabilitation order.

Joanne Eley, mitigating, said Cook was suffering from low self-esteem at the time and faced with debts of about £12,000.

Published Thursday, June 19, 2003

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette