A lorry driver set fire to a ‘shrine’ to his wife’s late daughter in what a judge slammed as a spiteful act.

Stephen Erdbeer, 66, was said to have been concerned for his wife, who had struggled to cope with the loss of her daughter. On May 20, he found her in the Blue Boar pub with her friends and, rather than gently ask her to return to their Ock Street home, told her: “You can stick the drink up your f***ing a***.”

He returned to their rented property of 16 years, where he was said to have been met by two friends of his wife. The men carried blades, threatened to ‘drop him’ and also struck him in the chest with a washing line, it was alleged. The pair were chased away by neighbours.

A short time later, the defendant was seen by a neighbour to leave his property. Erdbeer was said to have told him: “You live close-by. Be careful, I’m going to blow up the house.” Within minutes, the neighbour saw flames licking the living room windows.

Firefighters managed to put out the blaze. An investigator said the centre of the fire appeared to have been a pile of items in the living room. The fire was set using lighter fluid and a Zippo lighter and was so hot it melted the fire alarms and a set of Hi-Fi speakers.

The items torched included objects depicting or owned by his wife’s late daughter, the court heard. Speaking to a probation officer who wrote his pre-sentence report, Erdbeer described the belongings as part of a ‘shrine’ to the woman.

The defendant was arrested later that day in Northampton. He was said to have been on his way to his brother’s house.

Jailing him for three years and nine months, Judge Maria Lamb said of the altercation with the two men: “It may provide some explanation for your conduct thereafter but in my view provides very little by way of an excuse.

“Because what you did was to gather together items which belonged to your wife’s recently deceased daughter, items which were precious to her.

“They may have had little financial value but their sentimental value outweighed that.”

She added: “This [was] a spiteful piece of behaviour. It was directed at your wife who, it is quite clear from what is said, had been in physical decline since the death of her daughter.

“I am satisfied you did it to hurt her and you have succeeded.”

Erdbeer, formerly of Ock Street, Abingdon, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to arson being reckless as to whether life and property was endangered. He had no previous convictions.

Mitigating, Clare Evans described setting the fire as a ‘moment of madness for a man who really has led a blameless life’.

He had struggled while on remand in HMP Bullingdon and had been refused permission to leave the prison to see his terminally-ill father, who died earlier this summer.

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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

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