Two men have been jailed after deliberately starting a fire at a block of flats in Gloucester last year (2025).
Kenneth Moore, aged 50 and formerly of Bedford Street, Gloucester, and John Johnstone, aged 57 and of no fixed abode, were imprisoned for a total of 12 years and two months at Swindon Crown Court on Tuesday (31 March).
The court heard how police were called by Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service at around 10am on Monday 30 June with a report of a fire in the hallway of a block of flats on Bedford Street which they believed had been started deliberately.
Residents were evacuated while fire crews extinguished the blaze, and two people were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. They were later discharged.
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed an accelerant had been deliberately used to start the fire.
Numerous flats and their contents were damaged by the fire and a number of residents had to be moved to temporary accommodation as a result.
An arson investigation was launched by Gloucestershire Police’s Criminal Investigation Department, and Moore and Johnstone were arrested later that day on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.
The men denied the offence and were both subsequently charged and remanded in custody.
Johnstone later changed his plea to guilty ahead of the trial.
On Thursday 18 December 2025, Moore went on trial at Swindon Crown Court and a jury unanimously found him guilty of arson with intent to endanger life.
He was further remanded to await sentencing.
Before passing sentence, His Honour Judge James Townsend said the significant degree of planning, the use of an accelerant and the multiple people who were endangered were aggravating factors that would be taken into account.
Judge Townsend told Moore and Johnstone: “It was the two of you acting together, [you] set fire to an occupied block of residential flats with people inside them.
“Neither of you has been frank as to why this should have been done”.
Sentencing Kenneth Moore to seven years imprisonment, Judge Townsend said: “You are the mind behind all of this; you do represent a significant risk of causing serious harm to others in the future.
John Johnstone was told by the judge that his role was “lesser” but he had “plenty of time to think twice and retreat from it”. He was handed a prison sentence of five years and two months.
Investigating officer T/DC Dewar from the Criminal Investigation Department said: “Moore and Johnstone carried out a pre-meditated arson attack on the block of flats in Bedford Street, and although no-one was seriously injured, it could have easily led to multiple fatalities.
“The incident caused huge disruption and distress to many residents in the block who were forced to leave their homes and placed in temporary accommodation as a result of the fire. They haven’t been able to return as the flats are still uninhabitable due to extensive fire damage.
“Moore and Johnstone are now paying the price for their reckless behaviour and I hope their sentence serves as a message to them, and anyone else who involves themselves in dangerous, criminal behaviour that could cost lives.”
