Wrexham man jailed for petrol bombing car in revenge attack

The Leader reported last week on the sentencing of Alisha Anwar, of The Oval in Pentre Maelor, Wrexham.

Anwar, 29 had admitted an offence of conspiring to commit arson, which entailed her orchestrating a revenge petrol-bomb attack on her mother-in-law's car.

Her co-defendant, 25-year-old Luke Williams, of Gwenfro in Wrexham, appeared at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday morning to be sentenced for his part in the conspiracy.

Oliver King, prosecuting, told the court the victim in the case was Christina Place - the mother of Anwar's estranged husband.

Anwar held a "grudge" against Ms Place for a number of reasons, among them the fact Anwar "was not good enough for her son."

During a car journey in June 2022, Anwar asked Luke Williams if he'd "blow up" Ms Place's car for money.

Just before 1am on June 25, Ms Place was in the living room of her Brunel Court home in Wrexham when she noticed an orange glow beyond her garden fence.

Her car was ablaze and by the time two fire crews had brought it under control some 90 minutes later, a total of three vehicles had been either destroyed or seriously damaged.

The flames were so intense that a nearby fence was damaged, as well as the guttering and window of a neighbouring property, which had begun to melt.

A glass bottle containing petrol was found beneath Ms Place's car.

Had the contents of the bottle reached boiling point, it could have exploded.

Alisha Anwar (NWP) (Image: North Wales Police) Police were informed of the plot afterwards by Morwenna Evans, Luke Williams' then partner, who had heard them talking in the car.

CCTV enquiries confirmed Williams had gone to a Tesco petrol station and filled a container with petrol in the days leading up to the offence.

He was then seen walking with a carrier bag in the vicinity of where the blaze took place, just minutes before, and then walking back towards his home shortly after.

When he was arrested, analysis of his phone showed he'd been searching for "arson punishment UK."

His financial records were checked, and he'd received a £150 transfer from Anwar days before the incident, with the reference disguised as "birthday money" - despite Williams' birthday not lining up with the gift at all.

At the time of the offence, Williams was subject to a 16 month suspended sentence.

Myles Wilson, defending Williams, said: "The pre-sentence report is not very helpful in one sense; it doesn't suggest any alternatives to prison.

"But in another sense it is helpful because it summarises his unsettled background.

"He was brought up in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses and was bullied at school."

Mr Wilson said the defendant went on to live in a tent and developed suicidal thoughts before beginning to get his life "back together again."

But he then got into a financial mess.

"He was dependent financially on his friends," Mr Wilson said.

"And he was known as someone who was desperate for money - that's the context in which he stupidly agreed to involve himself in this, and not for a large amount of money it has to be said.

Luke Williams (NWP) (Image: North Wales Police) "His life is different now; he's in a settled relationship and he has a stable job."

Judge Niclas Parry told the defendant: "Ms Anwar orchestrated all of this. She was determined to seek vengeance on her mother-in-law and unbelievably, you took an offer to blow up or petrol bomb her car for £150.

"The victim just felt she was being attacked in the middle of the night by a stranger - it would have been terrifying."

The Judge handed down a 16 month custodial sentence for the conspiracy and activated eight months of the breached suspended sentence to run consecutively; making a total custodial term of two years, to be served immediately.

The Judge imposed a two year restraining order for the protection of Morwenna Evans and Christina Place.