A disgruntled worker who sparked an £8 million fire at a flagship Amazon warehouse has been jailed. Arsonist Adris Ali, 22, torched a stack of papers with a cigarette lighter after he claimed a team leader ‘disrespected’ him. The fire spread through the distributing facility at Rugeley, triggering a fire alarm and mass evacuation as fire crews raced to the scene. Ali, an Amazon picker for three months when the blaze started on November 4 last year, was arrested after staff rotas revealed he was in the aisle where fire began.
Ali, of Kent Road, Walsall, was jailed for four years at Stafford Crown Court on Tuesday. He had previously admitted a charge of arson with intent or recklessness as to whether life was endangered.
Darron Whitehead, prosecuting, told the court the fire damaged 613,549 units at the site, resulting in a loss of £7.3m. The repair, clean-up and labour costs amounted to a further £745,000.
