Torrington artist 'devastated' by arson attacks criticises absent police force

The victim of a suspected arson attack in a North Devon hamlet is demanding answers from the police and crime commissioner after claiming her case is not being taken seriously.

Local artist Shan Miller, from Taddiport near Great Torrington, lost her caravan in a blaze last month but says she has heard nothing from the police since first giving details over two weeks ago.

Residents say they have given police names of individuals they believe maybe responsible for that fire along with a number of other suspected arson attacks on nearby vehicles over a period of several days, but say they they are unaware of any action being taken.

Ms Miller’s caravan was a prominent local hub in Torrington and she had spent five months painting an image of Elvis Presley on the side.

“It was just so devastating for me after spending five months of painting Elvis and painted all the song lyrics on the side of it; just to cheer people up during the hideous covid times,” she explained.

But locals say despite promises of more officers, they rarely see police in the area.

In January, Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner, proposed to increase the portion of council tax per household by £10 a year to £246.56 for a band D property in order to increase the number of officers.

Council taxpayers in many rural areas say they have yet to see anything positive from the extra money they are paying and Ms Miller says she feels police are not treating the events as a priority.

“It feels like it’s been put up there on the top shelf to be left and nothing will happen,” she says.

She adds that the lack of police officers gives residents cause for concern.

Ms Miller says: “As single, professional women, of which there is a high proportion down in Taddiport and in the surrounding area, then we feel particularly vulnerable.

“Here in the rural places, there’s nobody. We don’t have any police presence and we don’t have any CCTV. We don’t have anything around here to make us feel safe.”

She says she is not asking for large numbers of officers. “I’m not a lover of seeing lots and lots of police but we just need to see some occasionally,” she explains, adding she is still waiting to hear back from the officer who first interviewed her.

“I haven’t had any feedback from [the officer] who said he’d get back to me after a couple of days to give me some idea how it’s moving along – in what direction.

“And I heard nothing. And that was two weeks ago.”

She suggests police do not understand the seriousness of the fires and says it is lucky nobody was in the caravan on the night of the blaze.

“[Someone] potentially could have been killed inside of it,” she says.

“This is the most worrying thing. Somebody could have died and they’re treating this as this as ‘Oh, well, just an arson attack. Nobody in it.’ But there could have been.”

In a statement, Alison Hernandez said: “I am well aware of the appalling spate of suspected arson attacks in the Torridge Vale area. Arson is extremely serious and all too often the results are fatal.

“I hear time and time again that our rural communities want more officers in their neighbourhoods and that’s one of the reasons, with the assistance of our communities through rises in the council tax precept, we were increasing police officer numbers in Devon and Cornwall long before the nationally-funded uplift was announced.

“This combined investment means that this year Devon and Cornwall Police will have a record 3,610 officers in its ranks. This uplift is now being felt as student officers complete their training.

A spokesperson for force said: “It wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on a live and active investigation but I can confirm that police enquires are ongoing.”

Ms Miller says the comments offer little reassurance and concludes: “I just want the police to do their job.”