A man who ran a company offering bouncy castles for hire became obsessed with beating his rivals using any means possible.
James Balcombe, 58, was yesterday jailed for 11 years after earlier admitting 11 charges of conspiracy to commit arson, ABC News reported.
The business owner paid his co-offenders to set fire to their own firms in Melbourne, Australia, in late 2016 and early 2017.
Many of the fires were lit with fuel or Molotov cocktails, and failed to have much effect – except one which was devastating.
Victoria County Court heard how Balcombe had several psychological disorders and became ‘completely fixated’ on the success of his company.
Judge justice Stewart Bayles said: ‘It consumed your every waking moment and you were continually thinking of ways to maximise and advance your business.
‘You wanted to eliminate your competition so you would succeed, your business being the number one business in the industry.’
The court was told how Balcombe entered the industry with his business Awesome Party Hire in around 2006, expanding to bouncy castle hire in 2011.
The move was extremely lucrative and he had ‘never experienced such success in business before’.
In 2016 however Balcombe met with two men called Craig Anderson and Peter Smith, and ordered them to burn two other firms to the ground in exchange for AUD$2,000 (£1,000) per attack.
Justice Bayles added: ‘You told them you wanted the jumping castles affected so the other companies wouldn’t be making money.’
Although Smith stopped after the first two attacks, there were more incidents following a similar pattern, and Balcombe became more and more demanding.
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A man who ran a company offering bouncy castles for hire became obsessed with beating his rivals using any means possible.James Balcombe has been jailed for 11 years after earlier admitting 11 charges of conspiracy to commit arson.The business owner paid his co-offenders to set fire to their own firms in Melbourne, Australia, in late 2016 and early 2017.Many of the fires were lit with fuel or Molotov cocktails, and failed to have much effect – except one which was devastating.Victoria County Court heard how Balcombe had several psychological disorders and became ‘completely fixated’ on the success of his company. #news #australia #melbourne #bouncycastle #crime #police
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If the attacks failed to cause significant damage he would order people to return and try again.
One attack at an uninsured firm called A&A Jumping Castles destroyed more than 100 bouncy castles and caused extensive damage, requiring AUD$1.5 million (£800,000) in repair works and ended the business.
Another attack wrongly targeted a neighbour and caused minimal damage, and one even saw some of Balcombe’s own equipment go up in flames.
Anderson, Smith and a third person were arrested in the following days, and they admitted the crimes immediately and said Balcombe had ordered them to do it.
It took several years to bring Balcombe to justice after he failed to appear in court in 2018 and was later found living under a false identity in Perth.
Justice Bayles said Balcombe’s crimes caused ‘significant loss, suffering and emotional trauma’ and said he had ‘lost perspective’.
His lawyer, Simon Kenny, said the offending was ‘amateurish, short-sighted and unsophisticated’.
The judge took into account Balcombe’s guilty pleas and suggestion that he intended to engage in treatment.
