Free David Blagdon - that was the message today to Home Secretary Jack Straw.

Since 1995, the Oxford Mail has highlighted the plight of the 47-year-old, who was sentenced to life imprisonment 21 years ago for causing arson at St Laurence's Church, South Hinksey, Oxford.

He set fire to curtains at the church, which was not badly damaged, before giving himself up.

The case of the category D prisoner, who is not considered dangerous, has been referred to the Parole Board but is not due to be heard until November.

Today the Oxford Mail is appealing to Jack Straw to intervene personally in the case and free Blagdon on licence. More than 70 fellow inmates at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, have signed a petition calling for Blagdon to be freed.

And in a recent Central TV phone poll, 4,354 viewers said Blagdon should be released, while 76 viewers voted against him being freed. Even the judge, Christopher Young, who is now retired, wrote in his sentencing report to the Home Office: "In a just society, Blagdon should not be in prison at all but in a secure place where he could be offered, and receive, treatment."

Blagdon's solicitor, Kevin O'Gorman, said: "I am delighted that the Oxford Mail is highlighting David's case.

"I think the Parole Board and the Home Office are avoiding the issue of why this prisoner has spent 20 years in jail. He was mentally unstable at the time of the offence because his step-parents had both recently died and he was not mentally fit to plead in court. He did not cause much damage to the church but his sentence did not reflect that. Those committing murder can expect to spend less time in jail than David has. "Unfortunately, he is not very good at playing the system and if the Parole Board keeps focusing on his failings, he will stay where he is until he dies. If he was an MP's son or someone with more contacts he would have been out after five years, not languishing behind bars all this time.

"There should now be immediate action. David should be released on licence into a half-way hostel, where he sees his probation officer once a week."

Last year, Blagdon, of Kingston Lisle, near Wantage, absconded from Leyhill Open Prison in Gloucestershire. He was returned to higher security Bullingdon Prison seven weeks later.

Mr O'Gorman said: "When he absconded last year he got himself a job as a builder and showed that he could look after himself without causing any trouble."

"There is no point sending him back to an open prison - he needs to be released."

The vicar of the church Blagdon set fire to, the Rev John Davis, who has been at St Laurence's for 18 years, has also called for Blagdon's release, pointing out that "it is now time for Blagdon to be forgiven". Witney MP Shaun Woodward, in a letter to Lord Williams of Mostyn QC, Home Office minister responsible for prisons, said: "If Mr Blagdon no longer represents a danger to the public I very much hope that his parole will be resolved speedily and without any unnecessary bureau- cracy."

In an emotive nine-page letter to his solicitor, Blagdon wrote: "I know that I did wrong at the time, but I have not lit any fires in prison in 21 years. I have done a long time now and I think that I should be out now. The Home Office thinks otherwise but I will not give in." Impulsive acts that led to downfall David Blagdon waited 20 years before making his break for freedom last August from Leyhill Open Prison in Gloucestershire.

Prison officers allowed him to join a seven-strong working party carrying out environmental work in woods near Bristol.

On impulse, he fled, in a bid to draw attention to the length of time he had served behind bars. He worked as a builder until he was returned to prison seven weeks later.

It was a similar act of impulse 21 years ago which led to him receiving a life sentence and spending the past two decades behind bars. On July 7, 1978, Blagdon, then 27, rode a stolen bicycle up the A34 to South Hinksey, near Oxford, and committed the crime which was to change his life. In turmoil after the death of his step-parents, he set fire to curtains at St Laurence's Church. No-one was hurt in the blaze.

His stepmother had just died of cancer after confining herself to bed for 15 years. His stepfather - a butler, had been transferred to a mental hospital, where he suffered a fatal heart attack two weeks after his wife's death. In an interview with the Oxford Mail at Erlestoke Prison, Wiltshire, in 1995, Blagdon said: "I went crazy. I didn't know how to cope. I went back to our house in Kingston Lisle, near Wantage, and found that the locks to the doors had been changed by the council. There was no will and all my father's money went to the state. What was I meant to do?"

When Blagdon arrived at St Laurence's Church, he had three previous convictions for arson - on a van, a warehouse and a shop door.

He also had a history of convictions for assault, theft, burglary and blackmail.

When he arrived at the church, he picked up a rock and threw it at the door, then went inside to set fire to a pair of curtains.

At Oxford Crown Court, on the day of his sentence, his barrister could have asked for a further adjournment for medical reports but Blagdon insisted the case go ahead. The judge gave him a life sentence to keep him out of danger.

Story date: Thursday 04 February

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