Reward for passer-by blaze hero

Mar 19 2008 The Journal

A PASSER-BY who put his life at risk to rescue a depressed mother-of-two after she set fire to her home has been praised by a court for his bravery.

Aaron Redpath, 20, was walking past Joanne Coates’ smoke-logged rented flat in Ripley Avenue, North Shields when he heard her screaming for help at the window.

He and a teenage boy forced the door and Mr Redpath went inside with a woman who has never been traced and dragged Coates, who appeared to be unconscious, outside.

“She began to regain consciousness when she was put into the fresh air and began shouting her children were inside,” said Simon Worthy, prosecuting yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court.

“Thereafter Mr Redpath re-entered the premises to look for those children. He searched through every room despite the fact the smoke making breathing very difficult but couldn’t locate any children.

“It seems shortly after, or about the time he was doing that, the emergency services arrived and he left to allow them to do their job and it was confirmed no children were there.” Coates, who had been drinking, was treated at the scene by paramedics but declined hospital treatment.

An investigation revealed she had started the blaze by setting alight curtains causing an estimated £800 damage.

Caroline Goodwin, defending told the court Coates, 35, who admitted reckless arson, had been “at rock-bottom emotionally” when she set the fire on October 19 last year.

Judge Esmond Faulks sentenced Coates to 52 weeks jail suspended two years with supervision and awarded £500 from public funds to Mr Redpath in recognition of his public-spirited bravery .

He said he took into account Coates’s background and that the fire could have been a cry for help.

“Fortunately the fire did not get outside your flat,” he told her. “Had it done so, it could have endangered the lives of people to one side or below. That is why this kind of offence is so serious.”