Jail time for hired arsonist who torched Sheffield pub with 'Molotov cocktail' while landlady slept upstairs

Giovanni Bearder set fire to The Sheaf House Hotel pub on Bramall Lane twice in the dead of night on August 24, 2021 and September 5, 2021, while the landlady and her partner were sleeping upstairs on both occasions.

During a September 9 sentencing hearing, prosecuting barrister, James Gelsthorpe, told Sheffield Crown Court that a short time after the first blaze was started at 1.30am on August 24 the landlady and her partner were awoken by the fire alarm sounding, the latter of whom came downstairs to investigate.

"When he came into the bar area he could see a fire in a seating area in front of a bay window. The flames were two metres high,” Mr Gelsthorpe said.

He added: “The fire had not, by that stage, become out of control and he was able to extinguish it, before checking on the wellbeing of his partner and calling the emergency services.”

Mr Gelsthorpe told the court that when the emergency services arrived, police determined that a brick had been thrown through a window of the Sheaf House Hotel; and a beer bottle found to contain petrol and fabric used as a wick had subsequently been lit and thrown through the window to start the blaze.

The second blaze was started just before 5am on September 5, as the landlady, her partner, one of her children and some friends slept upstairs; and once again her partner came downstairs after being awoken by the fire alarm.

Mr Gelsthorpe said: “Again, he found a fire at the front of the pub...on this occasion it was more developed that the first time. He describes how he struggled to put it out, but did manage to extinguish it.”

Similar to the first blaze, police found that a rock had been thrown through the window and the defendant had been able to start a fire on a seating area, however on this occasion the accellerant used to start the fire was not found.

Bearder’s DNA was found at the scene and he was linked to both blazes.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of arson with intent to endanger life, but later pleaded guilty to two counts of the lesser charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, which was accepted by the prosecution.

Ian West, defending, said Bearder, aged 24, was homeless and sleeping on the streets in North Nottinghamhsire around the time of the offences, and was approached by ‘three Asian males’ in Worksop who offered him £300 to set the Sheaf House Hotel on fire.

Bearder, of no fixed abode, has not provided any further information about the individuals who paid him to commit arson.

In a victim impact statement, the pub’s landlady said the fact she still does not know why Bearder was paid to set the fires concerns her, as does knowing those responsible are still out there.

She also estimated that the cost of paying the excess for two claims to her insurance company following both blazes, and paying staff to come in for repair work at £3,000.

Mr West told the court that Bearder, who has a criminal record of 11 offences committed between August 2019 and February 2021, has a limited IQ of 72 and struggles with processing information.

However Judge Graham Robinson said that these difficulties would not prevent him from knowing the ‘dangers of fire,’ adding that he also had the ‘wherewithal’ to create a ‘Molotov cocktail’ and start a blaze at the property on two occasions.

Mr West added that Bearder’s two-year spate of offending came about due to him becoming homeless.

Judge Robinson jailed Bearder for 56 months, and told him that while he accepts he was paid to carry out the arsons, that does not excuse his ‘wilful and wicked’ crimes.

Due to Bearder’s financial circumstances, Judge Robinson said he felt imposing a compensation order would not be ‘realistic,’ but added that the complainant may want to pursue the matter through the civil courts.