by Keith Hunt

An “evil” arsonist who terrorised victims as part of a plot to blackmail a wealthy businessman has been locked away indefinitely.

Under the sentence of imprisonment for public protection, Leroy Brown (pictured) will serve at least eight-and-a-half years before he can be considered for parole.

During the campaign, he started fires at three Medway homes, as well as others in London.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Brown, 34, who has served a 14-year sentence for armed robbery, demanded £50,000 from married property developer Stephen Aldridge, who ran City Scope Developments in Knightsbridge, and drove an Aston Martin DB9.

Prosecutor Martin Yale said Mr Aldridge had fallen out with a friend he had lent £6,000 but it was far from clear if the blackmail began for that reason or whether it was more opportunistic and began simply because of Mr Aldridge’s wealth.

The victim received a series of threats, one of which included a telephone call demanding £50,000 because he had slept with someone’s girlfriend.

Because of the threats, Mr Aldridge moved his family from south west London to Virginia Water, Surrey, in April 2010.

That month, two terraced mews houses near his former home were torched.

Then on May 17 last year Brown meant to set fire to the home of Mr Alrdridge’s parents in Rainham, but set alight the house of neighbours David Adams and Pilawan Ranco by mistake.

The front of the house caught fire and their car went up in flames.

Ten days later there was a similar attack at another address in Rainham, where Mr Aldridge’s sister Debra Baker and her husband Scott were living with their two children.

The house was unoccupied at the time because they were camping.

On July 14, Brown did set fire to the home of Mr Aldridge’s parents Peter and Pauline following an explosion. Two cars on the drive caught fire.

Brown, of Hanwell, west London, was in March found guilty of five offences of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and one of blackmail.

He was cleared of five alternative charges of arson with intent to endanger life. He denied all the charges.

Describing the offences as “persistent evil conduct”, Judge Philip St John-Stevens said if a determinate sentence had been passed it would have been one of 17 years.

The catalogue of offences, he said, was designed to cause maximum psychological trauma to Mr Aldridge and his family.

The campaign included branding the victim a paedophile and telling the police there was an armed man at his home. As a result, police marksmen stormed the house.

“It is another example of a warped mind generating fear and terror,” said the judge.

When starting some of the fires petrol was poured through letterboxes.

Brown was caught on CCTV, wearing a suit and tie as he poured petrol over two cars and through the letterbox.

“You terrorised Mr Aldridge and his family, targeting homes they lived in,” said Judge St John-Stevens. “It was persistent evil conduct with mental anguish.

“You took the campaign of terror to another level with acts of arson, together with accompanying letters. You caused stress to his family.”

The judge said he had decided against imposing a life sentence but an indeterminate term was necessary because Brown was a danger to the public.

He would only be released if the parole board decided he was no longer a danger. Brown was jailed for 14 years in 2001 for his part in an armed raid on a jewellers in London’s Knightsbridge. He was released in 2008.