[Closed] Arson attack on Oxfordshire Council, terrorist or someone with a serious grudge?

Not really the classic terrorism MO is it?

Probably someone pissed off about their council tax bill, or a refused planning application

I wonder how good their Business Continuity plans are.

"Keep a backup copy of database/document/file at one of our other sites" does not currently look appropriate.

Probably someone pissed off about their council tax bill

Yeah, and burning down the offices is really likely to reduce their bill!

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Definitely terror. I'm terrified. Which reminds me - I need to call the council (not South Oxs) about excessive dog eggs.

jivehoneyjive to the thread, please.

Probably an inside job - they'd like some s****y new offices but nasty Mr Cameron said no! 😀

A 47-year-old local man has been arrested on suspicion of arson and is currently in custody after three fires in south Oxfordshire overnight.

Crikey. I've been there quite a few times, did some work for them in a previous job.

Always thought a helicopter crashing into their building (RAF Benson is just over the road, they fly over all the time) was a more likely reason for BCP.

From my experience it's usually children with matches rather then terrorists that target thatched roofs.

I woke up this morning and my fence had fallen down during the night. Should I be worried about terrorist involvement?

While we're on the subject of terrorist, do we still class the Irish as such or is it just Muslims now?

at 3am

The point of terrorism is to terrorise. Difficult to terrorise an empty building while everyone else is asleep.

While we're on the subject of terrorist, do we still class the Irish as such or is it just Muslims now?

No, not classic extremist terrorism at all. But they took a gas canister to the council offices and used it to set a serious fire. A highly hacked off individual for sure, as likely to be anti-government (so is that terrorist ?) as someone highly grumpy about the council.

Note the initial reporting in Paris didn;t link the shooting of the polcie lady to the attack on Charlie Ebdo, in fact all the initial reports said "no link established". However that day there where stories on French sites saying the shooting took place near a Jewish school then a day later we have the super market shootings and then a formal link to Charlie Ebdo. On top of this we have a jogger shot which wasn't even reported until days later when the guns where linked via forensics.

So there is clear press / police / government "don't panic people" angle there.

Probably some lizard organisation destroying evidence of abuse.

We have (had?) a geezer in my little hometown called Mad Mike..

He got into trouble with the council after he decided that he wanted a basement under his ground floor flat in a 3 storey end terrace town house, and dug it out himself by hand with a spade and a shovel..

He seriously messed up the foundations, the building became unstable exacerbated by the fact it was on a steep hill and eventually after it had been extensively propped up for a bit it had to be demolished and all in all it was quite an expensive mess, and quite traumatic for the other occupants of the building I imagine..

Mad Mike wasn't happy about any of this, and embarked on a decade long campaign to topple the local council, uncovering conspiracies, corruption and scandals on a scale that would make jivehoneyjive look like a well balanced, trusting citizen..
Mike made huge banners and posters to display his findings and after getting in trouble for erecting his propaganda in town, he took to driving his car to well travelled out of town spots each and every day and bolting giant billboards to it handpainted with all his grievances..
I dunno what happened to Mike, he was never overly aggressive (bar a bit of shouting) but I've met many many people a good deal more psychotic that have blamed the council for everything that is wrong in their life..

I dunno.. maybe you're right jambalaya - maybe it's an ex member of shawaddywaddy who's converted to an extreme form of catholicism, maybe it's Michael Jackson back from the dead

This is England remember?
I'm pretty certain the eccentrics still outnumber the extremists by a very large margin

@yunki - the headline was slightly tongue in cheek for sure. There are nutters everywhere, many would say here you can find one at my address 😯

Council officialdom can drive people to the brink,

I knew a few people who were good friends with Albert Dryden (eccentric mad inventor who shot and killed a planning officer in Durham some years back) and the unanimous feeling was that while he was always an oddball, he was otherwise harmless and the council really had pushed him Over the edge

Indeed ninfan and people want more devolved power ! The guys in Westminster are bad enough.

Police has arrested a 47 year old man. I imagine we will learn more today.

But they took a gas canister to the council offices and used it to set a serious fire. A highly hacked off individual for sure, as likely to be anti-government (so is that terrorist ?) as someone highly grumpy about the council.

This. Not terrorist related IMHO. All three fires most likely to be linked I'd imagine.

shot and killed a planning officer.....he was otherwise harmless

Bomb disposal experts called in - a precaution I assume

HEADLINE:

Muslim Shooter/Arsonist/Bomber = Terrorist = Entire Religion Guilty

HEADLINE:

Black Shooter/Arsonist/Bomber = Terrorist = Entire Race Guilty

small section:

White Shooter/Arsonist/Bomber = Mentally Troubled Lone Wolf = Probably disturbed by Terrorists

Not terrorist related IMHO. All three fires most likely to be linked I'd imagine.

Agreed. The cottage, the funeral place and the council building sort of suggest (and I'm guessing, obviously) the loss of someone close to the arrested guy, some sort of perceived mistreatment and the subsequent retaliation we're seeing in these events.

ninfan - Member

Council officialdom can drive people to the brink,

I knew a few people who were good friends with Albert Dryden (eccentric mad inventor who shot and killed a planning officer in Durham some years back) and the unanimous feeling was that while he was always an oddball, he was otherwise harmless and the council really had pushed him Over the edge

jambalaya - Member

Indeed ninfan and people want more devolved power ! The guys in Westminster are bad enough.

Incredible.

bails - Member

Fred West was 'otherwise harmless' if you ignore all the murders...

Funny that it happened just after Morrisons decided to withdraw their appeal over planning for a new store in Wallingford. I reckon that Wallingford Morrisons Facebook group should be checked out...

@eddie the CEO stood down / was pushed out yesterday, co-incidence ? 😉

Police say not believed to be an act of terrorism

Police say not believed to be an act of terrorism

no witnesses to him standing in the street shouting that he was striking a blow for council tax payers everywhere, and calling for people to rise up with him in popular revolution against their zombiemaggotlizard overlords?

SAD that somebody allegedly got so upset over something that obviously meant a lot to him that he burnt down part of a house a funeral home and a council office block, causing distrress and upset for those involved and those who met him.

Thankfully so far no obne is reported killed or injured but a huge drain on resourses in oxfordshire.

It's a bit like "Hot Fuzz" really.

It amused me that the Oxford Mail was reporting that council contingency plans included "hot desking" 😀

Sure it wasn't just some kids arson around?
Igmc

Je suis Oxfordshire District Council building

🙂

I'm imagining you as one of those weird toy 'Transfomers' from Big...

Not terrorism by the look of things ...

But rather zombie maggot bureaucrats pushing someone to breaking point.

Zombies don't push it! (as in the macho advertising voice)

Je suis Oxfordshire District Council building

Quote from Police (source Guardian online), man arrested seems to have set fire to his own rather nice looking thatched cottage

[i]At this time we believe nobody has been injured in these fires. These incidents are being treated as criminal acts and are not thought to link to any form of terrorist activities.

“We are searching another address at Roke [Marsh] at the moment. There are gas canisters in that premises. We secured the services of the EOD [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] just to make sure that that premises is safe for when our offices conduct a search this afternoon.”

He confirmed the home was that of the arrested man who remains in police custody.[/i]

I know several nutters from Roke...It's one of those sorts of places 😆

jambalaya - Member
Quote from Police (source Guardian online), man arrested seems to have set fire to his own rather nice looking thatched cottage

At this time we believe nobody has been injured in these fires. These incidents are being treated as criminal acts and are not thought to link to any form of terrorist activities.

“We are searching another address at Roke [Marsh] at the moment. There are gas canisters in that premises. We secured the services of the EOD [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] just to make sure that that premises is safe for when our offices conduct a search this afternoon.”

He confirmed the home was that of the arrested man who remains in police custody.

That is a fourth house being looked at alongside the three fire sites. Looks like a planning problem with a neighbour objecting that caused the denial of permission that has led to the fallout...

That is a fourth house being looked at alongside the three fire sites. Looks like a planning problem with a neighbour objecting that caused the denial of permission that has led to the fallout...

You may refer to me as The Oracle 🙂

Surely an oracle would’ve started a predictive thread yesterday. I’ll compromise and refer to you as Miss Marpolumbo, how’s that.

TBH I thought the ‘loss revenge’ thing because of the funeral place, thinking no one would cause so much carnage over simple planning issues or similar. Way out of touch, obviously...

Surely an oracle would’ve started a predictive thread yesterday.

That would be premium service. Expedited predictions cost extra. Standard oracle-ing is a bit like receiving advanced warnings of events but by second class post - when you open it it just says "I could have told you something like this was going to happen"

🙂

maccruiskeen - Member
Surely an oracle would’ve started a predictive thread yesterday.
That would be premium service. Expedited predictions cost extra. Standard oracle-ing is a bit like receiving advanced warnings of events but by second class post - when you open it it just said "You should have known something like this was going to happen"

This week's lottery numbers are gonna be 1, 19, 22, 33, 34, 40, 42 and 49

I think I'll break with tradition and play eight numbers rather than the usual six then 🙂

As I've just heard that it was a farmer who did it all, planning dispute and the Funeral place was mistaken identity....oops

ARson! Now I mean I can understand (NOT accept) some crimes .. but why would you committ arson??

Wait for the press releases rather than speculation!