A serial burglar has been jailed for arson after setting a fire in popstar Passenger’s £1.6 million house.
Samuel Wesley, 37, broke into the five-bedroom house which Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, was renovating in the early hours of 13 May this year
He stole a hammer which he used to break into the house next door, waking its elderly residents who called the police.
When police arrived, they saw a fire in Mr Rosenberg’s house and alerted the fire service – but by the time they arrived, it had already caused significant damage.
The fire, started in a pile of wood offcuts and paper in the ground floor dining room, had burnt through the ceiling into a first floor bedroom, and caused smoke damage to the second floor too. Two bathrooms were beyond repair.
Mr Rosenberg told police it destroyed large parts of the property, and the bill to put it right will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The house, in the Queen’s Park area of Brighton, has been undergoing an extensive renovation, with planning permission granted in 2019 for a rear and side extension, glass balcony and a swimming pool in the garden.
Jailing Wesley at Lewes Crown Court yesterday, Her Honour Judge Christine Laing QC said: “I do sympathise with people suffer from drug addiction … but I have even greater sympathy for decent, honest people who have dealt with trials and tribulations in their lives, as we all have, in a way that doesn’t involve resorting to Class A drugs.
“Who have worked hard for their property and possessions, and then see it effectively stolen from them and their peace of mind in their own home taken from them.
“And in the arson charge, seeing it being severely damaged so that the plans they had for it had to start all over again.”
A set of keys from another house in Broad Street, Kemp Town, which had been burgled the previous day, were also found on Wesley. The large amount of property stolen in that break-in has still not been recovered.
And when he was arrested by PC Young, he called him a “dirty pig c***”, headbutted him and then tried to bite him.
Wesley, of Old Steine, Brighton, pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary and one of assaulting a police officer when he first appeared at Lewes Crown Court in July.
He initially denied arson, saying he had been off his head on drink and drugs and could not remember lighting the fire. But at a hearing last month, he changed his plea to guilty.
Prosecuting, Chetna Patel said: “Entry had been forced and a pile of wood cuttings and paper had been piled up in the dining room and set on fire.
“There were footprints in the dust which accorded with the shoes worn by the defendant.”
Defending, Brian Shaw said Wesley was deeply remorseful for the burglaries, which were the first domestic break-ins he had committed for 12 years, and which were the result of the “scourge of drugs” which has been writ large over his life.
He said: “Until Mr Wesley is able to conquer the scourge of drug and drug addition, he will be returning to prison. He’s going to be 38 next year, he needs to know there is a life out there without drugs.”
The court heard Wesley has 31 convictions for 64 offences, the first of which was committed when he was a juvenile. As this was his third conviction for a domestic burglary, those charges were given an automatic prison sentence, of two years and seven months.
He was given another two months for the assault, and nine months for the arson.
As he left the hearing, which he attended virtually from Lewes Prison, the judge told him to try and mend his ways, and he gave her a thumbs up.
Mr Rosenberg, 37, grew up in Brighton, and went to Dorothy Stringer school before dropping out of education to pursue a career in music.
He formed Passenger in 2003, and kept the name for his solo work when it disbanded in 2009. In 2012, he released his biggest hit, Let Her Go, which went to number one in 16 countries.
His most recent album, Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted, reached number 2 in the UK album charts when it was released in January this year.
