A PIGEON fancier has spoken of his heartbreak after a drunken football fan set fire to his loft, killing birds worth £20,000.

Ian Everington, of Mapleton Crescent, in Redcar, has been left devastated after 20 years of breeding and training was destroyed by William Peasgood.

Peasgood was given a suspended jail term for the arson, at Teesside Crown Court, on Friday, after earlier admitting two counts of arson.

The court heard that Peasgood had travelled from the Midlands to see West Bromwich Albion, the club he also works for, play Middlesbrough.

After seeing his side win 5-0 at the Riverside, on September 19 last year, the 21-year-old, from Halesowen, near Birmingham, returned to Saltburn, east Cleveland, where he was staying.

On the way home, he entered Hazel Grove allotments, where he set fire to the loft and a shed belonging to another person.

Jim Withyman, prosecuting, said: “He can’t provide any sensible explanation for what happened other then he was in the allotments, having a cigarette, when he lit a rag and set fire to the loft.”

Although the blaze did not directly kill the birds, within a few days of the incident they all fell ill, probably due to smoke inhalation, and Mr Everington had to put them down.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Everington, 49, said: “He should have been made to come back up here and kill them himself – that would have shown what it meant.

“My life revolves around pigeons.

I’m absolutely devastated, especially as I had to kill them myself. It’s like killing the family dog.”

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said Peasgood had immediately realised the seriousness of what he had done, and called the emergency services.

Mr Mochrie added: “In this case, prison has done exactly what it is intended to do – the prospect has instilled a complete and utter fear in Mr Peasgood.

“Because of his own stupidity he has lived the past few months of his life dreading this day.”

Judge Les Spittle said: “They are not just birds. This is a collection built up over 20 years. In many cases, these pigeons are closer to their owners than members of the family.”

Peasgood was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, a two-year community order, with supervision and 200 hours’ unpaid work, and ordered to pay £3,500 compensation to the two victims.

Mr Everington said he has started keeping pigeons again, but said he would never get to the level he had been at before the fire.