Woman who started fires in garden, outside Shrewsbury station and beside pub is detained in secure hospital
A severely mentally ill woman who started a fire and nearly torched her neighbours' 'forever home' has been detained for the public's safety - and her own hopes of recovery.
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Kelly Ford started a blaze in the back garden of her former home in Shifnal on the morning of August 3 last year after her neighbours heard shouting coming from Ford's home through the previous night.
Judge Anthony Lowe said at a hearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Tuesday (November 26): "Police and ambulances came to the house just before 10am, they saw [Ford] shouting.
"What they then saw was she had lit a fire in an oil drum in the back garden that morning."
The fire quickly spread to the neighbours' beloved house, which was the first one they had owned.
"They describe it as their 'forever home'," the judge said. "Flames were running up the side of the house, right to the roof."
Judge Lowe said the man who phoned the emergency services happened to be a retired firefighter, who helped get the blaze under control using a hose and buckets of water.
