fire<\/a> to the \u00a3260,000 bungalow where he lived with his brother, Craig, in the village of Hambleton following the death of their mother and father just months apart.<\/p>\nNeighbours heard a loud bang on the morning of 27 March 2024 as the property, in Carr Lane, erupted into flames and the roof collapsed.<\/p>\n
Davies emerged from the side of the house and told a passer-by: \u201cMy family want the house. If I can\u2019t have it, no one can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davies was sentenced on Thursday at Preston Crown Court to four years and four months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n
He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.<\/p>\n
![\"Darren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KYSPNZ1W07VT2V0QEF7REAPP.jpg\")
Darren Davies has been jailed for four years and four months (PA)<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Michael O\u2019Brien said that three gas cylinders had been placed in the front living room, the kitchen, and one of the bedrooms.<\/p>\n
There was petrol in the loft, and a candle had been lit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was concluded that the cause was the application of naked flame to combustible materials, with an ignitable liquid used to accelerate the development of the fire,\u201d Mr O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe force of the blast exposed people in the vicinity to a risk of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Craig Davies told the court that his parents had made wills before they died, leaving equal shares in the bungalow to himself and his brother.<\/p>\n
He said he told his brother in 2025 that he wanted to sell the property and \u201cgo our separate ways\u201d but said it \u201cwould not happen straight away\u201d.<\/p>\n
Craig Davies said: \u201cIn early 2025, Darren developed the bizarre idea that there was a secret will signed by my dad in the last few months of his life leaving the house solely to myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a notion entirely of his making.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe continually accused me of being part of a plot against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Darren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/47c2d89f8253f809efc706174f7cfc5aY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzYwMDE3NjIw-2.11685948.jpg\")
Darren Davies was sentenced at Preston Crown Court (PA Archive)<\/p>\n
Craig Davies had left home for work before the explosion, but received a WhatsApp message from a friend about 10 minutes after the blast which said that his home had been \u201cburnt to a crisp\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I owned in the house had been incinerated.<\/p>\n
\u201cDarren has effectively erased everything that defined my life before March 27.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among treasured possessions lost in the fire were diaries he had kept from the age of 10, along with family photographs and his parents\u2019 jewellery, the court heard.<\/p>\n
Craig Davies applied to the court for compensation from his brother for more than \u00a3170,000, including the half-share of the bungalow and \u00a320,000 for the loss of his extensive CD collection.<\/p>\n
Judge Philip Parry said the application was \u201ctoo complex\u201d to determine immediately, with outstanding issues relating to probate of the estate.<\/p>\n
The court heard there are a total of four siblings, although only Darren and Craig were given a share of the bungalow.<\/p>\n
The defendant was said to have a \u201clong history\u201d of mental health difficulties, including diagnoses of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and autism spectrum disorder.<\/p>\n
A psychiatric report from the defence concluded that he was mentally unwell at the time of setting the fire, when he was overcome by an \u201cautism crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n
Davies sent a letter to the judge in which he apologised to his brother and family, to the neighbours he \u201cput at risk\u201d, and the village of Hambleton.<\/p>\n
Neil Ronan, defending, said: \u201cIt is merciful and lucky that I make this submission without anyone having been hurt \u2013 including him, as it was his plan to end his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor over a decade he was the primary carer for his ailing parents. He did regrettably become more alienated and spent more time in his room when he was not undertaking chores.\u201d<\/p>\n
The death of Davies\u2019 parents was said to have been a \u201cdevastating blow\u201d for him.<\/p>\n
Davies had \u201chistorically failed\u201d to understand his mental health issues and had found himself on a \u201cslippery slope\u201d, but had since gained insight, the court heard.<\/p>\n
Mr Ronan said that the defendant had made \u201cmassive progress\u201d in custody since receiving psychiatric treatment and medication.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAll is not lost for this man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Ronan added that his client was in no position to deal with questions of compensation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he is released he is going to have [to] rebuild his life from absolutely nothing,\u201d the barrister said.<\/p>\n
Judge Parry told Davies that it was \u201ca sad and serious case\u201d, but he took into account his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and that his responsibility was \u201csubstantially reduced by your mental disorder\u201d.<\/p>\n
Davies must serve a maximum of half his sentence in custody, with the remainder on licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[238118,59,57,58,50,183719,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-719814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-darren-davies-court-case","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-pa2026","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n