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<\/p>\nCarol Ford’s home in Ferndale was destroyed in the blaze after gang poured petrol through widow’s letterbox and window on the middle of the night<\/p>\n
19:20, 10 Apr 2026Updated 20:42, 10 Apr 2026<\/p>\n
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The aftermath of the fire at a property on Protheroe Street, Ferndale(Image: John Myers)<\/p>\n
A pensioner had to flee from her burning home for her life when it was targeted in an arson attack over an unpaid drug debt. Four men poured petrol from canisters through her letterbox and window in the middle of the night. Grandmother Carol Ford, 82, said the only possession that survived the fire were her false teeth after her house was destroyed over her grandsons’ drug debt.<\/p>\n
Alfie Wheeler, 19, Auryn Gustur, 19, Connor Pitt, 24, Lewis Manito, 33, were sentenced at Cardiff<\/a> Crown Court on Friday, April 10 for the arson attack which happened at Ms Ford’s home at Protheroe Street in Ferndale, Rhondda<\/a> Cynon Taf, where the defendants had travelled to from Weston-super-Mare.<\/p>\n Pitt, Gustur, and Wheeler were being sentenced after having pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, while Manito pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and perverting the course of justice by disposing of the vehicle he drove.<\/p>\n In February Storm Truman, 19, was acquitted of a charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered <\/a>after driving two of the arsonists to the property. A jury found her not guilty after she told a trial at Cardiff Crown Court<\/a> she had no idea what had been planned and drove the arsonists to the address out of fear.<\/p>\n Alfie Wheeler and Auryn Gustur are both 19 (Image: South Wales Police)<\/p>\n The court heard how the four men travelled from the seaside town near Bristol in two vehicles. Manito drove Pitt while Gustur and Wheeler were driven by Wheeler’s partner, Truman, who the court heard was being kept in the dark about the reason for the journey.<\/p>\n The court heard that Mrs Ford’s house was targeted over a \u00a3137,000 drug debt her grandsons Matthew and Gavin Ford owed.<\/p>\n The two cars then met up and Pitt left Manito’s vehicle with a petrol can. Truman then drove them to Ferndale and Manito stayed in the area for support before disposing of his van, the court heard.<\/p>\n In the early hours of July 28, 2025, the three men approached the house wearing balaclavas with two petrol cannisters. Don\u2019t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n One was thrown through the letterbox and the other through a window which they smashed while Gustur filmed the incident. Mrs Ford’s house, where she had lived for more than 60 years, was completely destroyed, three cars were gutted and destroyed by the blaze, and the fire service had to battle hard to save neighbouring properties while neighbours had to leave their homes in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n The judge said the fire could easily have resulted in her or her neighbour’s death. The court heard how the damage to the properties was \u00a3771,750, excluding the cost of the three vehicles damaged outside the property.<\/p>\n A victim impact statement read to the court on behalf of Mrs Ford read: “I’m still very traumatised by what has happened. The night started as a normal day, I was happy and content in my little home – I had been there for 61 years and I had everything I needed.<\/p>\n “I had wonderful neighbours and I had my home decorated exactly how I wanted it. Everything changed in a split second, everything has been taken away. I will never get over that and life will never be the same again.<\/p>\n “Thankfully something disturbed me and I woke up. Had I not woken up I would not have been here today. I heard a loud band and thankfully it alerted me to turn around and see my blinds burning.<\/p>\n “I’m extremely inmobile due to my health conditions and how I managed to get into my back garden I will never know. Again, had my neighbour not helped me I doubt I would be here today. Due to my mobility issues I had my bed downstairs in the living room, had that been upstairs I would not have survived the fire.”<\/p>\n Connor Pitt (left) and Lewis Manito (right)(Image: South Wales Police)<\/p>\n She added: “The sight of my house burning down I can still see as if it was yesterday. I feel like my life ended in that fire and I truly wish I had gone too. My home was my only place I could remember my late husband James. My husband died there and my daughter was born there.<\/p>\n “Money cannot ever replace what I have lost. All my memories were taken away in that fire. I have been rehoused in rented accommodation but I don’t like it and it’s not my home. Despite having a brand new bed it’s not my bed – my bed, like everything else, was burned.<\/p>\n “I lost over two stone in weight through all of the trauma and the worry. The only thing that survived the fire was my false teeth that were in water in the bathroom.<\/p>\n “I was fully independent before the fire but I’m not now. I suffer daily with anxiety and stress and I think everyday: ‘Why am I still here?’ I’m scared something else is going to happen and every time I try and relax I think back to that awful day.”<\/p>\n The court also heard a victim impact statement from her son who was woken up in the middle of the night to the news of the attack and went to the scene not knowing whether his mother was alive or not.<\/p>\n Judge Paul Hobson added: “Your actions devastated the street and the people who lived there.” Judge Hobson sentenced Pitt, of Canterbury Close in Weston-super-Mare, who he described as “the leader of the group”, to 18 years – 13 years custodial term and five year licence. “Your actions showed an utter disregard for human life,” the judge added.<\/p>\n Multiple properties suffered significant damage(Image: John Myers)<\/p>\n He said Gustur, of Russell Avenue in Weston-super-Mare, was a “willing participant” who acted out of loyalty to his gang. He was sentenced to 15 and a half years. 10 and a half years will be served in custody and the remaining five on an extended five-year licence.<\/p>\n Wheeler, of Hosegood Drive in Weston-super-Mare, was sentenced to 13 years – eight years in custody and a five-year extended licence. Judge Hobson said he had heard Wheeler was scared of Pitt but said he “manipulated” his partner, Storm Truman, into driving to Ferndale at a time when she was carrying his child. The judge added that he travelled there with a machete.<\/p>\n Manito, of no fixed abode in Bridgend<\/a>, was sentenced to nine years in prison.<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carol Ford’s home in Ferndale was destroyed in the blaze after gang poured petrol through widow’s letterbox and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4617,141,61,3569,1737,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-11812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-cardiff-crown-court","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-fires","12":"tag-rhondda","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116386930547968496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Untitled-design-2.jpg\")
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