Arsonist killed `my two best friends'

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Wednesday 6th Oct 2004.

A devastated horse owner today told how she had lost her "best friends" when her two show animals were killed in a suspected arson attack.

Heartbroken Jill Crowther said her life had been torn apart after the horses died when a severe blaze gripped one of four stable blocks at the Beckside Riding School in Cottingley.

Mrs Crowther, 32, called for witnesses to come forward with information about the blaze, which killed three horses and left another with burns.

She said she had struggled to get through each day since the incident which hit the school in Lee Lane on Sunday at 10pm.

Mrs Crowther, of Greenhill Lane, Micklethwaite, Bingley, had kept the horses - Ellie Moss, aged three and Toby, 15 - at the stables for two and a half years. They were the only horses she owned.

"Ellie Moss was three and I had had her since she was a foal," said Mrs Crowther.

"She had been in show classes at the Yorkshire Show and Otley Show and I had just started riding her. She was a pleasure to own.

"I had Toby for eight years. He was ill last year and I nursed him back to full health.

"I would have put him down if I'd known he would have to go through this suffering."

Mrs Crowther said she had treated the animals as her "best friends" and said, "This has destroyed my life."

She added: "I look after my husband's books for his job but apart from that I spend the rest of my time looking after the horses.

"I'd been active with horses my whole life but I don't think I can have one again after this.

"People don't realise how much hurt this has caused unless they own horses themselves.

"I would ask anyone who heard or saw anything at the time of the fire, even if it seems irrelevant, to come forward. I just want whoever has done this brought to justice."

Mrs Crowther received a call about the fire from another owner shortly after it started and her husband Ian, 40, drove her to the scene.

But by the time they arrived it was too late.

"The owner of the stables tried to save the horses but he couldn't get near them because he said it was a fireball," she said.

l Detective Inspector Shaun Berry, of Keighley CID, said a 16-year-old youth from Cottingley was arrested yesterday and was being questioned about the blaze.

Anyone who saw anything suspicious should contact Keighley Police on (01535) 617032.

Archive Home