Seraphina Glass - Defence Solicitor

Mr Paul Rose, of 148 Kingston Rise Birmingham, states that he was in fact in the area of Slough Road on the morning of the twelfth of May, coming from his flat which he shares with his girlfriend. 

He had awoken late and was rushing to work. Mr Rose finds it difficult to deal with early mornings and had been fired from several jobs for his tardiness. His girlfriend, tired of his inability to hold down a job, told him that if he could not keep this job and contribute to the household, he would have to leave. And so his determination to arrive at work was crucial that day.

Mr Rose states that he knows the building well, and was actually a resident of the children’s home some years ago and that he had no reason to want to burn the building down.

Katie Allen - Girlfriend of the defendant, Mr Paul Rose.

He’s always late, can never get anywhere on time. He’d be late to his own funeral. 

Anyway, he dived out of bed, dragged on his clothes and was gone before even having a cup of tea. 

To be fair he’s pretty much like that every morning.

He didn’t burn that place down, even though it should have been burned a long time ago, horrible place it was.  They're just looking for a scapegoat. But it ain't him.

Isabella Thornfield - Prosecution Solicitor

Mr Rose is in fact unemployed and has been on and off for the past two years. 

Yes, it is true that he finds it difficult to hold down a job and we can confirm that in the week of the twelfth of May, Mr Rose was not employed and was due to receive unemployment benefit that day.

Mr Rose grew up in the area and it is a well known fact that he hated the building.  Friends and locals had often heard him screaming at the building in a drunken rage on over the years.

His hatred of the building stems from his bad experiences there as a child in its former use as a children’s home.

Mrs Sandy Kaur - Convenience shop owner at  3 Clyde street. 

Mr Rose is a local, I’ve known him since he was just a little boy, he’s a lovely man but I know he has had many difficulties in his life. 

He does drink quite a lot and then he becomes very shouty. But I have never, ever seen him being violent. A little scary when he's drunk but that's it. 

I saw him run out into the traffic that day. He was shouting at the top of his voice “I got them, I got the bastards” he seemed very unstable, laughing hysterically and shouting.

When I stood at the door to my shop I could see he was crying and he had black smears across his cheek. He looked sort of manic.

I called out to him but I knew he didn’t hear me, he ran straight down the road to the lane-way and that was it, he was gone. 

It was then that I noticed the black smoke rising in the sky and I called the fire brigade straight away. 

Miss Chloe Burgess - A dog walker. 

I don’t know Mr Rose but I kind of know his face from around the area. I live on Gordon crescent which is at the end of the path, the other side of the fields. 

I saw Mr Rose on the morning of the twelfth of May legging it down the laneway, I had to pull my Archie to one side to make way for him, running and screaming at the top of his voice he was. 

He was shouting mainly profanities.  Sounded like laughing and crying at the same time to be honest. 

He usually smiles or nods as he passes but I really don’t think he noticed me, that day. 

It was a bit frightening really and he ran right past, didn’t stop for a breath. I watched him as he ran out of sight, didn’t see where he went though.

Mr Jon Crow - Business owner - All Star Bailiffs

I have had a few run ins with Paul, in the past. I bought the place years ago and every opportunity he gets to tell me of that buildings history, he does.

He can’t help himself, he’s obsessed. 

He actually told me a couple of years back to move my business over to Benson Road, with all the other big businesses’s as he described them. He's told me my place is haunted, cursed. He outright told me I’d lose money. 

But to be fair, I never thought he’d actually try to destroy the building. I told him, it’s just bricks and mortar. The past is the past. Let it go.

I think he’s a good man really, just had some troubles in his life. Ain’t we all.

I did, I have to say, start to believe something was up with the building. We only ever manage to break even when other collections agencies just like mine are raking it in.  I don’t know, business has been tough and there’s no explaining why.

Paul’s a bit of a lose cannon but truthfully, I've never seen him hurt a fly.

Isabella Thornfield - Prosecution Solicitor

Mr Paul Rose is unemployed, he doesn’t have a job now and he was registered as unemployed at the time of the fire. 

You may be asking yourself why. Why would he lie? Why would his girlfriend lie? His girlfriend is his only alibi and witness, her story cannot be believed because as we all know and might well try to do ourselves, protect the ones we love. He’s her only family. 

She' s not going to turn her back on him in his hour of need.  There’s no one else, just Mr Rose, his girlfriend and their lie.

You know the truth, find Mr Rose guilty.

Seraphina Glass - Defence Solicitor

Mr Rose was sacked on the day of the fire due to his tardiness. Miss Allen supports him because it’s the truth.

You’ve heard the prosecution witnesses all describe Mr Rose as an ok sort of guy. Troubled with his drinking but never violent and he has no prior convictions. 

No drunk and disorderly, no criminal damage so by all accounts this incident seems very out of character, don’t you think?

There is no evidence to say that he was actually at Number nineteen Slough Road on the morning of the twelfth of May, not one scrap of evidence. 

He was seen running along a street near to Slough Road, not on Slough Road. Are we going to now start accusing people running because they ran close to the scene of a crime? 

This is ridiculous. There is no evidence and no witness.

Mr Rose is Not Guilty.