Arsonist spits in police officer's face during burning roof rescue

Horrifying footage shows the moment (click to play above) when an arsonist spat in the face of a police officer as he was being rescued from the roof of a house he had set on fire.

Officers, shown in the clip, climbed onto a fragile roof while Foley was hanging out of a rear upstairs window, and they dragged him out to safety.

Arsonist spat in officer’s face

Gloucestershire Crown Court was told that Foley was aggressive and had to be restrained, and during that process he spat in the face of one of the officers who was next to him, with this landing in his eye.

Bodyworn video footage was played to the court which showed the position Foley was in with smoke coming out of the window.

He deliberately started the fire

Martin Foley, 41, has been jailed for three years after he started a fire inside a terraced home on Larput Place in Cheltenham on 20 October last year. He had an argument with his partner and then told cops if they did not attend, he would stab her.

Foley was seen on an internal camera walking around the property with a large kitchen knife. He then took a lighter and set fire to a duvet on the bedroom floor, which resulted in the contents of the room being destroyed.

Brave officer pulled arsonist to safety

Officers were called at 11.15am and when they arrived, smoke was billowing out of the address. They had to evacuate neighbouring properties due to safety concerns as it was a mid-terrace home.

At the time, attending officers did not know whether Foley was the only person inside the property, and due to the threats he had made, they had concerns that someone else may be injured inside.

Officers made attempts to search the premises before the fire service arrived, but the smoke stopped them from being able to get upstairs - at this point they climbed onto the roof and rescued Foley.

Extensive damage to property

Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control with no damage caused to neighbouring properties.

The court heard how the damage caused to the property was extensive, with a significant refurbishment required.

A statement from a co-owner of the property was read to the court in which she said: "The fire at my property has caused me immense stress and has been a complete shock.

"I am deeply saddened to learn that this incident was deliberately caused."

‘Unpleasant’

Foley, of no fixed address, was arrested and interviewed. He answered no comment except to apologise for spitting in the officer's face.

A statement from the officer was read in court which said: "I became aware of Foley hanging out of a first floor window with smoke billowing out of the window behind him.

"I immediately climbed on top of a flimsy plastic lean-to roof to help Foley out of the burning building.

"As Foley came to, he became aggressive and at one point spat in my eye.

"This was particularly unpleasant and I had to use my balaclava to clean my eye immediately.

"I found this incident shocking, especially as I was helping to save this male’s life."

On 17 December last year Foley pleaded guilty to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered, threats to kill his then partner and assaulting an emergency worker.

He showed remorse

In his mitigation during a hearing on Friday 9 May, Foley's defence barrister said he was disinhibited rather than insane, and that he had been scared of his then partner.

The court was told he felt his partner controlled, manipulated and coerced him. His ex-partner did not provide a statement to police.

The court was told that Foley was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the incident, and that he had shown remorse for his actions.

References had also been provided by prison staff which said he had been behaving in an exemplary fashion while in prison.

Due to the guilty pleas, Foley was given a 25 per cent credit on his sentence.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and was told he must serve up to half before being released on licence.