Rotherham mum's Facebook post over 'kidnapped' daughter results in horror arson attack
“There is an element of revenge here”
Two men in balaclavas forced their way into a house and set it on fire after a Rotherham mum posted on Facebook that her daughter had been kidnapped and was being held there.
Alan Kazim, aged 21 and Cole Lavender, 27, started the blaze on Clifton Avenue, Rotherham, after turning up at the property with the girl’s mum.
The court heard what started out as “action heroes rescuing the damsel in distress” then became “much more sinister”.
Brian Outhwaite, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court that the girl’s mother had made the kidnap claims on Facebook but they turned out to be “not true”.
On the night of the incident on January 3, 2026, the trio went to the address and began to kick the door.
The court heard that the girl came out of the property and told her mum she had not been kidnapped.
Despite this, knives were produced, including a “zombie knife”, which Lavender angled at the two men. He was reported to have been “lunging at them” with the weapon.
The two men in the property at the time - the man who lived there and his neighbour - “trapped themselves” in a bedroom, in fear of being stabbed.
Lavender, who was under the influence of alcohol, asked Kazim if he had a lighter, and started the fire with acid he had armed himself with.
The victims “thought they were going to die”, but managed to open a window and jump from the first floor.
Not long after they jumped, the window “exploded from the heat,” the court heard.
After the arson attack, both Lavender and Kazim went to a nearby fish and chip shop, the court heard.
Cheryl Dudley, defending Lavender, said: “He can’t explain why it was necessary to involve himself.
“He can’t explain that behaviour beyond getting drunk and getting involved with something that has nothing to do with him.”
She shared how Lavender was “finding his way through the system with some difficulty”, and told the court how he saw “his friend die in prison” from drug taking.
She said he was told a girl had been kidnapped and that there was “no plan to start a fire”.
Dermot Hughes, defending Kazim, told the court that he had a “secondary” role in the offence, and said: “We know who was the catalyst for it”.
He shared how Kazim is neurodiverse and “does not have the capacity to apply any real thought processes to his decision making”, calling him “easily led” and “impressionable”.
Kazim did not have a knife and didn’t know what Lavender was armed with, the court heard.
Mr Hughes described the events as “action heroes rescuing the damsel in distress” which then became “much more sinister”, but again emphasised how Kazim “falls into a very different category” to his co-defendant.
In their trial, Lavender was found guilty of arson with intent to endanger life, and threatening a person with a bladed article.
Kazim was found not guilty of threatening a person with a bladed article, but guilty of arson.
Recorder Sellars, sentencing, shared how the value of the damage they both caused, was between £90,000 and £100,000.
She said: “It is only through luck that the men were not severely injured or even killed.”
She accepted that Lavender had a “leading role” in the offence, and emphasised how the neighbouring homes were occupied.
Sentencing Lavender, of New Winterwell Road, Rotherham, the judge said: “There was premeditation, you armed yourself with a knife and acid. You only have one previous conviction, which makes this all the more extraordinary.”
He was jailed for nine and a half years.
Kazim, of Brimmesfield Close, Arbourthorne, Sheffield, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.