Dawlish News

A JUDGE has ordered a top level investigation into why the case of an arsonist who was later caught with a knife and made serious sex threats against women was given a lenient sentence by magistrates.

At Exeter Crown Court Judge Stephen Wildblood QC heard that Devon fire raiser Martin Cooper had been roaming the streets despite the fact that he could pose a serious danger to the public and was finally arrested on warrant in Wales.

"I will not speak in forked tongues in a public court," said Judge Wildblood. "But when he was caught with the knife on him after being given a community order he told police: 'I was coming to Exeter to meet nice women. I had the knife in my pocket and I suppose I would have used it to force women to have sex with me'. But he was only given four months by the magistrates despite being in breach of the community order for arson. I am not prepared to let this case fall through the net. I want a straightforward answer to this case."

The judge ordered that the Crown Prosecution Service investigate why the case was not sent by the lower court to the Crown Court for sentence.
At the original hearing 33-year-old Cooper admitted starting a blaze in Dawlish in 2006 and was given a community order with a mental health requirement.

Then in July Cooper appeared for the breach and also for possessing a knife in public. For that offence he was returned to the magistrates for sentence with Judge John Neligan expecting the Bench to commit him back the Crown Court for sentence on the knife possession charge and also so he could be dealt with for breaching the community order imposed for the arson.