An Albany pub owner has been slapped with 10 years of jail time for orchestrating an arson attack on a historic hotel for insurance payout.
The 127-year-old Premier Hotel was set ablaze in May 2016, causing $1.5m in damages, in a plan arranged by former licensee Graeme Cooper, 36, to cash in on the insurance of the floundering business.
Cooper set the arson attack in motion with his friend Scott Gay, who recruited three others to the insurance scheme – Christopher Paterson, Aaron Hasson, and Karl Hutchinson as the driver,
AAP reported.
A recording showed Cooper being dragged by Paterson and Hasson to the office where he was “forced” to deactivate the CCTV – an act designed to fool the police.
"Your intention was to fabricate evidence... the recording... shows you between two masked men, being forced back down the hallway," Justice Stephen Hall said in a WA Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday. "You appear to be struggling and resisting but that was, of course, all an act."
Cooper was punched by Paterson to make it look like robbery, then gave them the money, told them where to light the fires, and showed them where the fluid and lighters were, the report said.
The day of the fire, four people were staying in the hotel, including three who were upstairs in the main building, and Cooper led them to safely exit the hotel.
Hall said Cooper's statement to the police implied that the attack was perpetrated by people he angered.
"The impression that you gave was that this was not a random attack, but one that was motivated by jealousy or animosity," Hall said in the
AAP report. "In doing this, you deflected attention away from yourself.”
In his letter to the court, Cooper apologised to those who were unnecessarily caught up in the consequences of his actions, adding that it was fear and panic that clouded his mind and led him to act out of character.
Cooper – who pleaded guilty to criminal damage by fire, fraud, and creating a false belief, on the first day of his trial – must serve at least eight years before he can be eligible for parole.
Gay was previously sentenced with five years of jail time; Paterson, five years and four months; Hasson, four years and four months, and Hutchinson, three years and three months,
AAP reported.
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