AN ARSONIST groom who caused £5.5m damage to his wedding venue as well as putting his loved ones at risk has been jailed for six years.
Max Henry Kay, 37, showed no reaction at Chester Crown Court having previously admitted arson at Peckforton Castle being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
When Kay, of Waylands Drive, Hunts Cross, Liverpool, started the devastating blaze by using a cigarette lighter to set fire to drapes in the drawing room his wife was sleeping in the bridal suite directly above him.
The court heard there were 93 adult guests, including a man in a wheelchair, plus 11 children and staff staying at the castle during early hours incident last June. Everyone escaped unharmed although the bar manager was thrown on to his back by the back-draft on going to investigate.
At the hearing there was no sign of Kay’s wife, who recently gave birth to their premature twins, although Kay’s identical twin Richard was present.
In the hours following his wedding, Kay drank 20 double vodkas – the equivalent of a bottle and a half – and made threats against Peckforton’s finance director Kate Naylor after most of the guests, including his wife, had retired to bed.
She had dealt with Kay, who at the time had just been discharged from bankruptcy, over the constant late payments towards the £30,000 wedding with the final instalment eventually paid off by his fiancée.
Prosecutor Duncan Bould said witnesses heard him talk about her as ‘a bitch’ and wanted to know where she lived, whether she had children and said she was going to ‘get it’.
Speaking afterwards, Mrs Naylor, who resorted to hiring private security after learning of the threats, said: “It was a terrifying situation.”
The court heard it was Kay’s anger over staff’s refusal to extend his credit limit at the bar which probably caused him to tip over the edge.
Passing sentence, Judge Roger Dutton told Kay: “It was a miracle that nobody was either seriously hurt or killed by your actions.
“There is a long background to this – principally surrounding, it would appear, your ego. Having been made bankrupt and very recently discharged from that bankruptcy, you embarked upon a wedding that would involve paying a figure of approximately £25,000 for a ceremony you could nowhere near afford.
“It was all to maintain bravado with friends and family and to make it appear you could afford such largesse to friends and family and those you wanted to impress.
“In the end, you sought, and achieved, revenge against the proprietors of Peckforton Castle.”
Kay wrecked plans by the castle’s own wedding co-ordinator, Jo McKnight (née Taylor), to enjoy her wedding reception at the venue later on the day of the fire, but the event instead had to be held at the Wild Boar Hotel in Tarporley.
