Wimborne arson: Man jailed for four years eight months after torching 18 cars in one night
David Giddins, 45, carried out a drug-fueled spree that turned the Dorset market town into a 'war zone', causing more than £183,000 in damage and leaving residents homeless.
A Dorset man was jailed for four years and eight months after pleading guilty to 20 counts of arson connected to a late-night spree during which he set fire to 18 parked cars in Wimborne in May 2023.
Giddins began his spree around 11 p.m. on May 14, 2023, moving through Wimborne and lighting the front number plates on vehicles as he went from street to street. The flames spread to the engines and, in some cases, to nearby buildings, prompting 65 emergency calls to the fire service that night.
The attacks caused more than £183,000 in damage. Vehicles destroyed included a £5,000 BMW, a £20,000 Volkswagen Passat and a Land Rover with about £3,000 damage.
Two incidents spread flames to neighbouring buildings, with one family forced to flee their flat in their pyjamas.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Robert Pawson said the arsonist had caused untold misery to innocent people because of his extremely rare condition of pyromania.
A psychiatrist described the motive as a maladaptive coping mechanism and found Giddins suffered from a mixed personality disorder, gambling disorder and pyromania.
Prosecutor Simon Walters called the night a campaign and spree of arson that affected many people beyond the named owners. He said the mechanism involved lighting the front number plate and that flames often spread to the engine bay; not every fire caused extensive damage but most did.
An NHS nurse, Lisa Dodd, was hailed a hero for waking a terrified family from their burning flat. She ran outside to alert Ruth Thompson and her two teenage daughters, who had to escape through a small gap between the car and the flat to reach safety. The family was left homeless, with clothes and belongings ruined by water and smoke damage.
Giddins' defense, led by Kevin Hill, noted a background of childhood trauma and long-standing alcohol and drug abuse. Hill said his client has shown genuine remorse, has not consumed alcohol, substances or gambled for more than two years and four months since the incident, and that his marriage has since broken down and he lives with his parents.