A stalker who set fire to the driveway of Dennis Welch’s home and kept him “terrified” has been sent to jail.
Chester Crown Court was told on Thursday that in September 2020, Truck Wingard started a fire in a skipper outside the Loose Women Star’s home in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
The TV star and actress, 63, said she was alerted to the fire by her husband Lincoln Townley’s “piercing scream” when a member of the public saw the fire and knocked on their door.
The court heard that the fire caused ক্ষতি 4,285 in damage, which spread to the garage attached to the couple’s home.
Prosecutor Gareth Bayliss said CCTV showed a man wearing a distinctive baseball cap looking around the property and pouring an accelerator into a skip and setting it on fire.
Wingard, 64, was later arrested from a nearby wearing cap and police discovered a kitchen knife in his rucksack.
‘This whole experience terrified me’
Mrs. Welch, who played Trish Miniver in Holyox and Natalie Barnes on Coronation Street, said The incident “changed” his life as he testified via video link from the United States.
He told the court: “This whole experience shocked me and it continues.”
The court heard that the couple now spends 2,000 2,000 a month on extra security.
The court heard that couple Dennis Welch (left) and her husband Lincoln Townley (right) now spend মাসে 2,000 a month on extra security.
Wingard claimed to be a press photographer and police found two cameras in his bag, the court was told.
On February 10, 2021, when Wingard was released under investigation, Mrs. Welch and Mr. Townley discovered the words “witch” and “pimp” and an inverted-down cross scrolling through the blue marker pen at their front gate, the court was told.
‘You didn’t say a word of sadness’
CCTV footage showed Vingard buying the pen at a nearby store and writing graffiti.
Between 18 September 2020 and 11 February 2021, Wyngard pleaded guilty at a hearing last September to causing serious harm or distress.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated manslaughter, one count of criminal mischief and one count of arson.
Sentencing Wingard, Judge Michael Leaming said: “You have not uttered a word of sorrow, nor have you uttered a word of concern for your victims.”
He also placed her under a restraining order, on condition that she not enter Wilmslow.
