Teenage arsonist targets St Mary’s Parish Church Hall in Horden

Jun 4 2009 by Sophie Doughty, The Journal

DISASTER was narrowly averted when a teenage fire raiser targeted a church hall being used by a ladies’ dominoes club.

Members had no idea that a fire was raging in the room below, which was rapidly filling with choking smoke, as they sat down for their weekly meeting.

But around 15 elderly ladies abandoned their game and evacuated the building when they discovered a young arsonist had set fire to the basement, at St Mary’s Parish Church Hall, in Horden, near Peterlee.

The blaze started just feet away from a gas supply.

And today as the congregation is counting the cost of the damage to their church, the dominoes club is simply thankful for their lucky escape. Joan Freemantle, 78, who is a member of the group, said: “It could have been a lot worse. Most of the women that were there were well into their 70s or 80s. It could have been really really nasty if the fire had not been spotted.”

Mrs Freemantle, whose husband Godfrey is caretaker at the church, spotted the youth who is believed to have started the fire, as she and a fellow dominoes player went to lock the door on Monday night.

“One of the ladies went to lock the door and as she went out a boy appeared behind her,” Mrs Freemantle explained. “She asked him what he was doing and he said he was looking for his grandma. She said; ‘I don’t think she’s here’ and he just jumped through the railings and off he went.”

Unnerved by the boy’s behaviour, the woman asked Mrs Freemantle to go with her to investigate, and when they opened the door to the church they were met by a wall of heat and smoke.

“We pushed the door and suddenly we saw the smoke and felt the heat coming out,” said Mrs Freemantle.

“We phoned the police and the fire brigade and everybody filed out.”

Gym equipment including a gymnastics horse and a rug were destroyed.

Watch manager Ian Moore, of Peterlee Fire Station, said: “If it had gone undetected very much longer it could have had some serious consequences.

“The fire was within a few metres of the main gas supply. The consequences could have been devastating to the church hall, which is a valued community resource.”

A spokesman for of Durham Police, said the fire is being treated as arson and an investigation is under way.

The church’s vicar, the Rev Kevin Smith, said he was grateful nobody was hurt.

“Fortunately it was caught before it took hold so there was a minimal amount of damage,” he said.

This is not the first time St Mary’s has been hit by vandals. Thieves recently stripped lead from the church’s roof causing about £5,000 worth of damage.

But the people of Horden donated more than £4,000 to go towards maintenance work at the building.

Mrs Freemantle added: “It’s sickening. I’m 78 and I have been going to that church all my life. We have had lead stolen from the roof several times, and we keep finding used needles and underwear on the steps.”

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to call Durham Police on (0345) 6060365.