AN ARSONIST laughed after telling his support worker he had set fire to his B&B room.
Robert Steele was challenged by the woman after he admitted covering an electric toaster, which he seemed to have brought with him when he checked in to the Cowley Road guesthouse, with a duvet in order to set the fire.
His chilling reply seemed to blame either the owner of the guesthouse or his fellow guests for bringing coronavirus to these shores. The 24-year-old bragged down the phone: “I don’t give a s***. It was just some Vietnamese people. They brought the virus over to the UK. Let them die.”
READ MORE: Arsonist Robert Steele admits Cowley Road fire and spate of other crimes
When it was pointed out to them that he had put people in danger, Steele was said to have laughed, Oxford Crown Court heard.
A victim personal statement written by Jianhua Wang, the owner of the guesthouse on the corner of Cowley Road and Southfield Road, was read to the court by prosecutor Rebecca Foulkes.
He said he’d given Steele a reduced price for the room when he turned up late on October 31 without enough money to cover the full nightly rate. When Mr Wang showed Steele, who had moved out of his Birmingham hostel after flooding his room, to his bedroom the young man seemed ‘nice’, he said.
“I did him a favour and he repaid me by destroying a part of my business and endangering lives at the same time,” Mr Wang said.
The businessowner, who has had the guesthouse for 16 years, was Chinese rather than Vietnamese – as Steele had appeared to suggest to a support worker at the Birmingham hostel where he had been staying.
Mr Wang said: “I felt taken aback someone would want to destroy something of mine due to my nationality.”
The court was told there were four other people in the building at the time of the fire on November 1. They all managed to get out of the property and the fire brigade were quickly on the scene.
Having bragged about what he did, Steele was arrested in Birmingham on November 2.
He was released under investigation at the time for a series of prank 999 calls in late 2020 in which he claimed to have set fire to his mum’s home in Great Western Drive, Didcot, and that he was on his way to shoot her and his siblings.
Steele had also sent her threatening messages directly via Facebook and also made threats to ‘shoot’ a police officer who was investigating him.
Sentencing him to five years and four months on Friday, Judge Ian Pringle QC described Steele’s behaviour as 'totally and utterly unacceptable'. “You were utterly reckless as to whether life was endangered and that is a most serious offence.”
He said of the prank 999 calls and harassment of his family: “It is something you’ve done in the past. If you think it is clever you’re about to find out why it’s not.”
The defendant was ruled to be a dangerous offender and must serve an extended three year licence period. A restraining order bans him from contacting his mother for life.
Steele, formerly of St Andrews Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to racially-aggravated arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, sending malicious communications and harassment.
Mitigating, Gordana Austin said: “He is very sorry for what he has done.”
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward
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