CCTV footage released by police shows the shocking moment a Chester landlady set fire to her own pub.
Donna Tracey was jailed for four years and eight months this week after she admitted torching The Rake & Pikel pub in Huntington last year, and putting in a false insurance claim.
Tracey, 46, of Ruthin Road, Cadole, Flintshire, pleaded guilty to arson and fraud at a hearing at Chester Crown Court on Monday (September 10).
The court heard how she set fire to the pub where she had been the landlady for five years at 5.25am on April 29, 2017.
A few days after the incident, Tracey called her insurers to start a claim and they began an investigation into the fire.
She also gave an interview to The Chronicle in which she said her pet dog Rhea had saved her life by barking loudly as the flames spread.
Speaking days after the fire, Tracey, who refused to be pictured, said: "My dog basically saved my life. When she woke me up barking, I kept telling her to shut up but she kept making noise and then I started to smell smoke. I opened the door and saw thick smoke everywhere.
"That’s when I ran downstairs, it was terrifying. Nothing really feels real at the moment,” she added. “This pub is my life. It’s my home and my livelihood. I have no clue when we will be able to reopen as the inside is destroyed."
But insurers were able to access the pub’s CCTV system which clearly showed Tracey setting fire to a napkin which she then threw into a bin behind the bar.
The fire caused extensive damage to the bar and ground floor and is estimated to have cost the insurers over £200,000.
The investigation also showed that some CCTV cameras had been removed from the premises with Tracey claiming that they had not been working.
In her interview she told police that she had drinking heavily for around two years after the death of her partner.
She said couldn’t remember setting fire to the pub because she had been drinking heavily that day.
The Rake & Pikel reopened with a new licensee in November last year.
