Cracker joins arson inquiry

A female version of the television criminal psychologist Cracker is helping Greater Manchester Police find the person who started the Bolton Moat House fire (Caterer, 26 April, page 4) in which an elderly couple died.

Dr Kate Fritson, who teaches forensic psychology at the University of Surrey, has studied convicted arsonists for more than five years. After a series of tests, Greater Manchester Police found the fire was started by a naked flame held to one of three mattresses propped up against a wall in the hotel's third-floor corridor.

Fritson completed her profile of the offender last Wednesday (23 May). She said: "Investigating officers provided me with details of how the fire was started. The nature of the target, type of building and the timing are also used to create a whole picture of the circumstances. Then a system of classification is used to identify the motive."

Motives can include personal grudges, revenge against an employer or against society, and destruction of criminal evidence.

Moat House chief executive Andrew Coppel said: "We are appalled. It is hard to believe the fire was started deliberately."

The ground-floor public areas and first-floor bedrooms of the Bolton Moat House are due to reopen on 2 June, and the hotel should be fully open by mid-July.

by Ben Walker