GPS tag tracked arsonist going to set fires at home

An arsonist who was tracked going to set fires at a house by a GPS tag he had been ordered to wear by a court has been jailed for three years and 10 months.

Neil Cook, 46, started two blazes in the Murton home of a woman whose partner he was having a disagreement with over a car, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He was on GPS monitoring as part of a bail condition set after being charged with possessing a firearm, which he was prohibited from having due to convictions for drug dealing.

Cook, from Gateshead, admitted arson being reckless as to endangering life and possessing a firearm while banned.

The arson victim was out on 28 March this year when she got a message to say her house was alight, prosecutor Antonia Adie said.

She rushed home to find police and firefighters at the scene, the court heard.

The woman instantly suspected Cook as he had threatened her family due to a dispute he was having with her partner, the court heard.

Local CCTV recorded Cook and another man in the area shortly before the blaze began, with the GPS tag he was wearing as part of his bail conditions also proving he had been at the house, Adie said.

The arsonist had broken in through a rear patio door and started two fires, one in an upstairs bedroom causing extensive damage and the second in the kitchen where a pile of clothes had been set alight, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said many of her belongings were "damaged beyond repair" and she had felt "horrible and terrified" by the attack.

She also said she had feared for the life of her dog, who was in the house at the time, and had had to move out of her home.

Cook had been on bail at the time for possessing a firearm in Gateshead on 11 June 2025, the court heard.

On that day, a woman saw him walking around and pointing a large air rifle, which he was banned from having ever since being jailed for 40 months in 2009 for intending to supply Class A drugs and threatening behaviour, Adie said.

Recorder Abdul Iqbar KC said the arson was a "determined attempt" to "cause as much damage and harm" as Cook could.

The judge said a fire posed a danger to the occupants of the targeted property, but also the neighbours and firefighters.

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