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This barn, after a bit of idiocy from my close friend neal. Got burnt to the ground. In brief, my friend was working in a barn. Stacking a selection of broken chip and pin machines. It was a cold day in January and so he decided to start a fire to keep warm. Using my lighter my friend recklessly started a fire on a stack of boxes and then later, upon request, in a bin, away from danger. As the situation wore on my friend moved the bin nearer to him, which I questioned, the fire flicked from the metal bin and hit a stack of boxes. To cut a long story short, the barn burnt to the ground.
1 month later he is arrested, he tells his arresting officer that it was I that started the fire. So I was arrested. I told the truth, as stated above. 4 months down the line we are both charged with Arson.
I appear in court next week.
I am, as some will known, a Cambridge university student, with a small desire to be a teacher. This offense could see my dreams dashed and my prospects ruined. I have no idea what the minimum sentence is (be it imprisonment or community service), nor do I know EXACTLY what I did wrong.
At the moment my "close friend" still insists it was I that was responsible for the fire.
Help???
> Starting a contained fire in a farm is not a reckless idea,
> especially if it is set away from anything flammable. Neal twice
> risked the fire catching the other boxes and twice I repelled the
> idea.
Yeah, but it isn't in a farm is it? It's in a barn,. Fill of flammable materials. Simple thing really is, that you had no right to start it in the first place, it's caused craploads of damage, and the fact you are saying you had nothing to do with it really isn't going to cut it where people are looking at two kids who've started a fire.
Maybe he's a true friend.
Just make it clear that your friend never at any point intended to burn the barn down. It was just an accident, a rather retarded accident, but an accident all the same.
It's hard really to say what the court will end up doing, it's a first time offence, but it's also 100k of damage. AT the time did you run away or call the fire brigade and stay on the scene?
Now try maintaining your dignity bent double in a prison shower.
> Why did you go in there in the first place? Seems like a really stupid
> idea.
He wanted some company whilst he was working.
He was working and we were cold. People start a fire cause it was cold. There were flammable things in the barn but not around the point of the fire. Not until Neal moved it anyway.
More to the point they're not looking at two juvaniles (whatever), they're looking at a hardworking man (and a liar) and a university student. They're not looking at a couple of reckless kids. But two respected adults. Who had been working, and due to the cold, decided to start a small fire to keep us warm.
We weren't "mucking about" as you seem to think it. We WERE being sensible. Well at least I was. It was an accident, I just hope our solicitors can persuade that to the magistrate. It isn't a jury court.
> A responsible adult (because that is what you are, despite the
> incident) would have called a fire engine, stayed on the scene, and
> at least tried to maintain some dignity amongst the smouldering
> stupidity.
Which we did.
I had to go home early before anything was questioned. Yet as I didn't see myself as being responsible I let neal deal with it.
> I think putting the blame entirely on your friend might look bad on
> you in the long run. At the end of the day, you might not have
> started the fire, but you were still there and in the company of the
> person who did.
Argh but it was!
> Just make it clear that your friend never at any point intended to
> burn the barn down. It was just an accident, a rather retarded
> accident, but an accident all the same.
Indeed it was.
> It's hard really to say what the court will end up doing, it's a
> first time offence, but it's also 100k of damage. AT the time did you
> run away or call the fire brigade and stay on the scene?
Called the fire brigade, remained at the scene for some time before having to leave to work.
> Chr1s wrote:
> Why did you go in there in the first place? Seems like a really
> stupid
> idea.
>
> He wanted some company whilst he was working.
Probably be alright then. For a while I though you'd gone in there JUST to keep warm, which would have been one flimsy excuse.