M1 fire: Accused teens ‘high fived each other when they heard about £4.5m destruction’

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:21 PM on 7th February 2012

Luke Mathews aged 18

Joy: Luke Matthews allegedly screamed with delight after hearing of
the news coverage about the fire he is accused of starting which closed
the M1 and caused £4.5 million worth of damage

Two youths who started the M1 fire ‘high fived’ each other when they realised what destruction they had caused, a court heard today.

When Luke Matthews, 18, heard how much news coverage the fire, which closed the motorway for almost a week, had generated he ‘screamed with delight’ and went round to celebrate with one of his 17-year-old co conspirators, it is alleged.

The 17-year old is said to have later boasted ‘I blew up the M1’.

The pair along with two 15-year-olds, Johno Johnson, 18, and Josh Lambe deny that they had started the blaze in the early hours of April 15 which caused traffic misery.

James Brown, prosecuting, said: ‘Luke Matthews was heard to scream with delight when he heard how high up the news agenda it was then he went round (to the 17-year-old’s) and they gave each other high fives.

Matthews said he was so happy he could start jerking, meaning dancing.’

The court at Wood Green heard today that along with four other defendants the group are charged with various offences during a five day spree of arson in which five fires were started.

The gang had plotted their orgy of destruction beforehand and one of the 15-year-olds even admitted to cops that he knew in advance the plans had at the request of others brought gas canisters out with him to help with the blazes, the court heard today.

The youngsters filmed their arson spree, apart from the M1 fire, on Johno Johnson’s phone and cops recovered the videos and photos of their actions when they were arrested in the weeks following the spree.

Just before the M1 blaze at roughly 3.30am in Moat Mount open space, Mill Hill, a 17-year-old, Johnson, a 15-year-old, Josh Lambe, 18, Luke Matthews, 18, Jaun Durandt, 18, all set a picnic shelter alight, they have admitted.

Josh Lamb

Johno Jay Johnson

Co-accused: Josh Lambe, (right) and Johno Jay Johnson (left)  along with two 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old, deny they started the blaze in the early hours of April 15th last year

Hannah Parker, 18 and a 15-year-old, are alleged to have acted with them but deny the conspiracy.

In
video footage of the fire various teens are seen trying to tear down
the picnic shelter they have set alight and laughing shouting ‘ohh, that
looks good’ as they try and smash the shelter with sticks.

Matthews
and Johnson at 3.30am are filmed ‘dancing in celebration’ before some
of the group head to the Apex Metals scrap yard where they started the
blaze which caused £4.5million worth of damage.

James Brown, prosecuting, said: ‘They
have blamed each other, each of them claims to be an innocent bystander
on the fringes of events.

‘You should judge these claims on the background of what happened at Moat Mount.’

Desolate: Smoke rises from under a deserted M1 at a normally busy time on the morning of the fire

Desolate: Smoke rises from under a deserted M1 at a normally busy time on the morning of the fire. The motorway was shut for four days and the damage is estimated to have cost £4.5 million

There
is no footage on the teens phones of the scrap yard arson but in the
early hours of the morning they began texting each other with Johnson
updating the 17-year-old saying: ’10 fed cars, three fire trucks, bare
CID.’

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied ‘Loooool’ meaning ‘laugh out loud’.

The
17-year-old, who looked at news sites on the fire almost 150 times in
two days confessed his actions to a pal then phoned Matthews and the
pair celebrated.

Over the next couple of days the teen boasted to others ‘I blew up the M1’.

Undeterred by the nearby blaze which was still being dealt with Durandt, Parker, Lambe and one of the 15-year-olds went back to Moat Mount and set another picnic bench on fire, it is alleged, along with the 17-year-old, Johnson and Matthews, all three of whom have admitted the last conspiracy.

Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes