Drug gang jailed for torching widow's home while she slept

Members of a drugs gang have been jailed for torching an elderly woman's home while she slept and causing more than £750,000 worth of damage.

Widow Carol Ford, 82, escaped her house in Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf, barefoot and in a nightie when it was targeted by arsonists over her grandsons' drug debts.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the gang was caught on CCTV wearing balaclavas and hooded tops before starting the fire at the front door and window.

After previously pleading guilty to offences relating to the incident, four men appeared for sentencing, with a judge describing their actions as "nothing short of evil".

Connor Pitt, 24, Auryn Guster, 19, and Alfie Wheeler, 19, all of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life.

Lewis Manito, 33, also of Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered and perverting the course of justice.

The court heard that Carol Ford is a widow who had lived at the house for 61 years before it was targeted after her grandsons Matthew and Gavin Ford had a drug debt of £137,000.

Their mother had received a threatening text message from a member of an organised crime gang in the days before the fire, urging one of her sons to "pay up".

Marian Lewis, prosecuting, said the fire at the home in Protheroe Street was started in the early hours of 28 July 2025.

Petrol was poured through a front door letter box and around the front window, which had been smashed.

Lewis described it as "a targeted attack in the early hours when the occupier would have been asleep", saying it had been organised by Pitt.

Pitt, Guster, and Wheeler, were all caught on CCTV walking from a white Seat car towards the house wearing a balaclava and hooded tops before starting the fire at the front door and window.

The court heard that Carol Ford had been asleep downstairs due to mobility issues, which saved her life as she was able to flee in her "nightie and bare footed" to the back garden.

She said during her exit it "sounded like a load of fireworks going off" and after fleeing, she looked back to see her "kitchen window being blown away by the flames".

Police and fire service arrived within minutes, but the house was already engulfed in flames, and the street was evacuated.

The court heard the fire caused £771,715 worth of damage, destroyed two houses and badly damaged a third. Three cars were also destroyed.

Pitt, Guster, and Wheeler were caught on CCTV running from the scene and getting in the white Seat, which was stopped near Cardiff by police deploying a stinger device.

The three men were arrested and described as smelling of petrol on arrest. Manito, a father-of-three, was later arrested in Weston-super-Mare.

In a victim impact statement, Carol Ford said she intended to end her days "peacefully" at her home, but that all changed in a "split second" that night.

She described it as being like "a movie set but this wasn't a film but my home burning down".

Her son Phillip Ford said he was "heartbroken" when he saw "the family home on fire".

Lewis, for the prosecution, said it was "a close-knit community on a quiet and safe street and the fire has destroyed that and left residents traumatised".

During sentencing, Judge Paul Hobson said: "Your actions were nothing short of evil, to deliberately burn down a house when an occupant lay sleeping shows a total disregard for human life."

The judge said, on sentencing Pitt to 13 years in prison: "You had an utter disregard for human life."

Guster held his head in hands when he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison.

The judge told Wheeler: "You travelled with a machete, and you endangered an elderly woman's life", and sentenced him to eight years in prison.

Manito was sentenced to nine years in prison.