Supporters of jailed arsonist David Blagdon plan a peaceful demonstration today (Octrober 17)outside the prison where he is currently being held.

Blagdon's case - highlighted by the Oxford Mail - has attracted nationwide interest since we highlighted the fact that he was jailed for life at Oxford Crown Court in 1978, for setting fire to a pair of church curtains at South Hinksey.

Blagdon, 49, of Kingston Lisle, near Wantage, has spent the last 22 years being moved from prison to prison - but a campaign to secure his release on parole has been gathering pace. He is currently in Wellingborough Prison in Northamptonshire

Campaigners plan to follow up today's demo with another at the Home Office.

Protest organiser Phil Byrne said: "We've got a lot of people who are behind him now who are fed up being fobbed off by Home Secretary Jack Straw, who is all public relations and no substance as far as we are concerned."

Blagdon's solicitor, Anita Bromley, wants her client transferred to Sudbury Open Prison in Derbyshire. Once there, he would spend a year before being released.

Earlier this year, a petition signed by over 2,000 Oxford Mail readers demanding Blagdon's freedom was handed in to Mr Straw at his home in Minster Lovell, near Witney.