A pair of bungling arsonists have been spared a prison sentence just weeks after two accomplices were given 14 years between them.
The couple drove from Bexhill to Brighton and, a jury found, were involved in starting a fire belonging to a man who wasn’t home.
The fire was either a revenge attack or intended as a warning to a relation of the man who lived in the flat over a £23,000 drug debt.
But while the fire flared up, it quickly burnt itself out – and they left a trail of clues that led to their conviction by a jury at Lewes Crown Court in December.
Marcus Murphy, 28, and Bronnie Richards, 26, both of Cantelupe Road, Bexhill, were acquitted of two other arson attacks in the same spree.
They were found guilty of their involvement in starting a fire in Norwich Crescent, Bevendean, but cleared of torching a Range Rover in Downsway, Woodingdean, and a flat in Down Terrace, Brighton.
They were each sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, and a community order.
Their two bungling sidekicks were jailed for 14 years between them after three fires were started in Brighton in “a campaign of terror” over a drug debt.
But they set fire to the wrong flat at one address and, at the Norwich Crescent flat, their target was not at home and the fire quickly died out.
The night before, they caused £14,000 damage to a customised Range Rover Overfinch as they tried to scare a Brighton man, Carlo Gosden, into paying a £23,000 drug debt, a court was told.
The Range Rover belonged to Gosden’s uncle, Steve Gosden, and was outside his home in Downsway, in Woodingdean, when they set fire to it shortly after 9pm, causing £14,000 damage.
At Lewes Crown Court, David Parvin, prosecuting, said that Elle-Mai Dunford, 21, had filmed Callum Radband, 26, pouring petrol on two properties and setting them alight less than half an hour apart.
The first was in Stonehurst Court, off Down Terrace, Brighton, which they thought belonged to 28-year-old Carlo Gosden.
Instead, they set light to the home of Heloise Crafer, who had no connection to the Gosdens and no idea why her front door and stairs were on fire.
The flames quickly took hold, engulfing her home, cutting off her escape route and leaving her trapped inside her burning first-floor flat.
She picked up her pet dog Buster and climbed out of her bathroom window and fled by scrambling across a neighbouring roof before jumping to safety.
Judge Martin Huseyin said: “Miss Crafer lost everything. She lost all her possessions. She lost all her clothing. She lost all her sentimental items. She lost absolutely everything apart from the clothing that she was stood up in and her little dog.
“She was in a state of terror. She had no idea what she had done for this to have happened.”
Mr Parvin told the court that cost of repairing the damage alone was £60,000 to £80,000, adding: “The whole of her flat was destroyed.”
At about 10.25pm, they targeted another flat, in Norwich Crescent, Bevendean, which they thought belonged to 35-year-old roofer Ashley Gosden, a relative of Carlo Gosden.
He was out but a man living in the flat upstairs smelt burning and noticed flames at his kitchen window. He called 999 but the fire quickly went out.
Ashley Gosden was not a witness in the case but, even though the fire was brief, it caused damage to the upstairs flat that ran to four figures.
Sussex Police said: “Accelerants were found to have been used in all three incidents, prompting a full investigation to identify those responsible.”
Officers arrested four people
• Callum Radband, 26, of Curf Way, Burgess Hill
• Elle-Mai Dunford, 21, of Grove Road, Eastbourne
• Marcus Murphy, 28, of Cantelupe Road, Bexhill
• Bronnie Richards, 26, of Cantelupe Road, Bexhill
Murphy and Richards were arrested on Monday 2 October 2023 and released on conditional bail so that further inquiries could take place.
Radband was arrested on Thursday 5 October and sent back to prison for breaching the terms of his licence on release, having previously been jailed for aggravated burglary.
Dunford was arrested on Friday 13 October 2023 and charged the next day with two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and one count of arson.
She was initially remanded in custody but later released on conditional bail. She pleaded guilty to all three counts at Hove Crown Court in October.
Mr Parvin said that Dunford had recruited Murphy and Richards for a “revenge attack” and the judge said that she had been seduced by the apparent glamour and excitement.
Richards and Murphy were each charged last March with two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and one count of arson. Richards had been the driver, taking them from Bexhill to Brighton in her Audi on both nights.
Radband, Murphy, and Richards went on trial at Lewes Crown Court on Tuesday 5 November 2024. Almost four weeks later, on Monday 2 December, the jury returned their verdicts.
Radband was found guilty of arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, having started the fires at both flats on Monday 25 September 2023.
At the judge’s direction, he was found not guilty of arson over the Range Rover fire because of a lack of evidence.
Both Murphy and Richards were found guilty of arson for the fire at Norwich Crescent but were acquitted of the Range Rover fire, in Woodingdean, and the Down Terrace fire.
On Monday (20 January) at Lewes, Aidan Harvey, defending, said that Dunford had been naïve and became involved after her threats were made to her brother.
Judge Huseyin said that she became a willing participant but Mr Harvey said that she had been abandoned as a baby and had a traumatic childhood.
Andrew Stephens, defending Radband, said: “There was very real and very immediate pressure on him (although) it was short of duress.”
Radband has used “a relatively small amount of fuel” at Stonehurst Court. Mr Stephens said: “Nobody could have predicted how that conflagration would have engulfed that property in the way that it did.”
His previous conviction for aggravated burglary “was a nasty offence and he paid a high price for it at a young age”.
On his recall to prison, he went “back into the lion’s den” and served his full term until last November.
Mr Stephens added: “He was going back to the very place in custody where he had been subject to a very serious assault and that was filmed and sent to his mother and grandmother.”
He feared on the night of the attack that an anonymous figure referred to as “balaclava man” was outside his mother’s home and would harm her if he didn’t start the fires.
Judge Huseyin told Dunford: “You well knew that you were carrying out revenge or enforcement attacks for a drug dealing enterprise. You also videoed the arson attacks on the houses.
“These offences were part of a campaign of serious threats to Carlo Gosden who had fallen out with drug dealers either because he owed them money or had stolen drugs.”
Threats had been made beforehand on social media but, at Stonehurst Court, the judge said, “the risk of death was high” and the only fire exit was alight.
Judge Huseyin said Dunford ended up with a drug abuse problem and serious mental health issues after her unstable childhood and disrupted education.
He said: “You’ve got a tragic personal history. You were effectively deprived of proper parenting.
“You were easily exploited by others and were attracted by older people with a criminal lifestyle who seemed glamorous to you.
“You didn’t have the self-worth or the self-respect to stand up to that (and) to resist the what you were asked to become involved with.”
The judge told Radband: “You played the critical role of actually setting the fires – without that, the danger to life doesn’t happen.
“There is always a risk that a fire takes hold in a way that is greater than the person setting it expects.
“I accept that you thought you were just trying to scare people. I have accepted that there is evidence of you being intimidated.
“You weren’t under direct threat from those who were with you on that night. Threats were being thrown around willy-nilly on social media.
“There was the opportunity to pull out or seek help from the authorities.”
Dunford was jailed for seven years and four months and Radband was jailed for six years and eight months.
Richards and Murphy were given suspended sentences at Lewes Crown Court on Monday (17 February).
The investigating officer, Emily Farley, said: “This was a deeply concerning series of incidents where multiple fires were deliberately set, causing significant damage to homes and personal property.
“A tireless effort was invested to piece together the evidence, helped by the co-operation of the community throughout police inquiries.
“Such actions not only endanger lives but also devastate the sense of safety in our neighbourhoods.
“Dunford and Radband have now been given substantial sentences for the serious roles they played and we await the further sentencing of Richards and Murphy on Monday 17 February.”
Investigator Aimee Gorman said: “These three incidents not only caused significant damage but also instilled widespread fear, extending beyond the direct victims and into the local community.
“Following the sentencing of Dunford, Radband, Richards and Murphy, we hope the victims can begin to move forward and put these events behind them.
“We would also like to express our gratitude to the community for their support throughout the investigation. Their assistance, including providing crucial details and CCTV footage, played a vital role in helping us identify the suspects and secure convictions.”
