Children arrested on suspicion of arson following Westwood industrial unit fire released without charge
16:07, 10 April 2019
updated: 16:47, 10 April 2019
Three 12-year-olds arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire raged at an industrial unit for 25 days have been released without charge.
It comes six months after the fire at an abandoned industrial unit on the Westwood Industrial Estate near Margate was extinguished on October 10 last year.
Hundreds of firefighters worked around-the-clock on the operation after the site, filled with illegally stored waste, caught alight on September 15.
It left the fire service with a hefty bill of £161,700 for extra costs, as KentOnline exclusively revealed.
Three 12-year-olds, a boy and two girls, as well as a 13-year-old girl, were arrested at the time, but all have now been released without charge.
Huge piles of charred waste remain uncleared at the site in Continental Approach, and the Environment Agency says the site is still under investigation.
At its height, 80 firefighters were tackling the blaze, and huge plumes of smoke could be seen as far away as Sandwich.
Following the fire – which was extinguished two weeks ahead of schedule – a notice was pinned to a fence at the site, signed off by Thanet District Council’s head of asset management.
It ordered the owners of the building - a company based in the Virgin Islands called Conservation Property Holdings – to secure the site to stop unauthorised entry.
The firm has said previously it leased the building to an operator, unaware as many as 16,000 bales of waste tightly packed in plastic were being illegally stored inside.
Devon-based D W Land is listed as the business rates payer for the site.
It is listed on Companies House as a firm which buys and sells real estate, and last May failed to comply with an Environment Agency (EA) notice to clear the rubbish from the building.
Police say they are continuing to investigate the fire.
Spokesman Scarlet Drayson said: "All suspects have now been released without charge.
"Inquiries are ongoing and if anyone has further information they should contact police on 01843 222289 quoting 46/ZY/55179/18. "Alternatively, call the independent charity Crimestoppers in Kent, anonymously, on 0800 555 111."
