A man from Telford has been jailed after being found guilty of carrying out a spate of arson attacks on vehicles around Hadley and Leegomery in 2017.
Omar McGowan, aged 28, from Leegomery, was sentenced to five and a half years at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday after he was found guilty of five arsons, including one count of arson with intent to endanger life, in May this year.
Police say that one of the attacks was only a few feet away from a gas supply.
Police launched Operation Wintergreen to identify the offender, viewing CCTV and carrying out house to house enquiries as well as forensic work.
Matches were seized at the last attack with enquiries identifying the brand, subsequent enquiries identified McGowan on CCTV buying the same brand of matches at Trench Lock Service Station shortly before the arson took place.
Search warrants were carried out at McGowan’s address where electronic devices were seized. Messages were subsequently found where McGowan admitted to committing one of the crimes. McGowan was arrested and in January 2018 he was charged.
Telford CID, Detective Sergeant Andy Dawson was the officer in charge of the case. He said: “McGowan is a very dangerous offender and this sentence clearly reflects the severity of the offences he carried out. The attacks were completely random, none of the victims knew McGowan, the attacks had a considerable impact on the local community and understandably left his victims distraught and anxious.”
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