An arsonist who set fire to a Salford tower block has been banned from setting foot near the building.
Last October, Mariusz Wieczorek was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court on three counts of committing arson recklessly, and jailed for seven-and-a-half years for starting a series of deliberate fires at Arthur Millwood Court in Islington.
Now Wieczorek, 44, has been banned from entering the grounds of the tower block on Rodney Street after housing provider Salix Homes, which owns the building, sought legal action against tenant Wieslawa Sliwinska – the partner of Wieczorek.
During a county court hearing at Manchester Civil Justice Centre on March 7, Salix Homes was granted a six year Suspended Possession Order against Sliwinska.
Under the terms of the order, Wieczorek cannot enter the tower block or visit his partner’s property and the ban will remain in place until 2023.
Sliwinska must also immediately report Wieczorek to Salix Homes and Greater Manchester Police if he is sighted within the grounds of Arthur Millwood Court or makes any threats towards the building.
If Sliwinska breaches the terms of the order she could face eviction from her home.
Sue Sutton, executive director of operations at Salix Homes, said: “We welcome the court’s decision in this case and we hope it’ll send out a strong message that the safety of our tenants is our priority.
“Wieczorek was not a tenant of Salix Homes, but that will not stop us taking legal action to ensure the safety of our communities. All our tenants are responsible for not only their own behaviour, but the behaviour of their visitors, so let this be a warning that if your visitors are behaving anti-socially, you could be at risk of losing your home.
“Wieczorek’s actions put our tenants in serious and potentially life-threatening danger and it’s only down to the quick-thinking of our 1st Response security team that the fires did not spread.”
Wieczorek started fires on the ground floor corridor of the 14-storey tower block three times over a four month period in 2015 and 2016.
He was eventually caught out after Salix Homes officers turned detective and reviewed CCTV footage which placed him in the vicinity of the fires. A trace was then placed on his access fob, alerting the housing provider’s 1st Response security team when he was in the building.
