A FORMER charity worker has been jailed for two years for a serious arson attack on a farm.

Peter Scott, 44, of Lower Road, Faversham, worked for seven years at the Faversham Assistance Centre (FACE), which provides decorating and gardening services for the elderly and disabled, before leaving just over a year ago.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Scott destroyed a barn and equipment on John Clinch’s land after drinking heavily at a disco at the nearby Syndale Motel in London Road.

Scott set two fires, one in the barn and another by a road on October 29, 2005. He was traced by a cigarette he left behind.

Prosecutor James Turner said that the barn was gutted and that the cost of rebuilding it and the loss of machinery, some of it historic, totalled £17,000.

The insurance company was only prepared to pay out £10,000.

Six months later, Patrick Crittenden, 41, of St Nicholas Road, who had also been to the Friday night disco, torched fertiliser bags at the farm, causing further damage. Mr Turner said that there were more fires in the area but that there was no evidence to link Scott and Crittenden to them.

Crittenden was, however, arrested on April 1, 2006, after police lay in wait and saw flames in the fertiliser store.

Crittenden was seen running away.

Scott and Crittenden, he said, would have had to go about a mile out of their way home to go on to the farmer’s land.

Both men admitted arson and were jailed for two years.

Rehman Chisti, for Scott, said that his client had drunk up to five pints of lager and was heavily under the influence.

“On that basis, it was wholly and totally out of character,” he said. “It comes down to stupidity.

“If you are able to leave a cigarette butt there, it shows his judgement is a key factor.”

Judge Michael Lawson, QC, said that the fires Scott set were separated by a considerable distance, one at each end of the yard.

“The contents of considerable value were destroyed,” he said. “That has not been covered by insurance.”

The judge said that Scott had been in a sufficiently controlled state to balance a cigarette on its end as he watched the fire burn.

Crittenden, he said, tried to blame Scott when he was caught red-handed.

Staff at Faversham Assistance Centre expressed their devastation that former long-serving worker Scott has been found guilty of arson.

Andrea Ingham, manager at FACE, said that Scott was suspended more than a year ago and had not worked for the group since.

“We are devastated”, she said. “He assured us he wasn’t guilty. He hasn’t worked here for a long time but we are very shocked to find out what he did.”

Mr Scott carried out manual work for the organisation, including gardening, painting and decorating in the homes of elderly and disabled people in Faversham.