Racial motive probed as second Polish deli gutted by fire in six weeks
Slawomir Mordon, owner of Best Pol Delicatessen on Barrack Road, outside the shop following a fire.
DETECTIVES are investigating whether a second arson attack on a Polish corner shop in the last six weeks may have been racially motivated.
The Best Pol Delicatessen, in Barrack Road, Northampton, was gutted by fire in the early hours of Monday after flames ripped through the shop and destroyed the roof.
The store was sealed off by police yesterday after an “explosion” shook the nearby buildings and woke neighbours at around 1am. The blaze then ravaged the shop, which is now unlikely to open for “several months”.
Police said they believed the attack was started deliberately and officers are linking yesterday’s attack to a previous arson strike on the shop.
In December, burglars broke in and set fire to stock inside, causing the business to close for two weeks.
The owner, Slawomir Mordon, said the latest fire was likely to leave his business closed for “six or seven months”. He said he feared his business had been targeted by a firebomb attack and felt certain the latest attack was linked to the previous fire before Christmas.
He said: “I have no evidence but there are two situations and it cannot be coincidence. This time the arsonists did it just after a delivery so all the stock was inside the shop and I have now lost all my stock. I threw out everything after last time. I had to bin everything and this time it looks even worse, so I don’t think anything will be able to be saved.
“I guess it could be six or seven months before we can open again.”
Mr Mordon, who opened the shop last April and owns another shop in Wellingborough, said he was still unable to get inside his business to assess stock, which is now exposed to the elements.
A police spokesman added: “Police and fire service officers are presently carrying out an investigation at the scene of the fire.
“The cause is being treated as suspicious.
“The arson is being linked to a similar recent incident at the delicatessen store. Officers are retaining an open mind as to whether these incidents may be racially motivated but at present they are not being treated as such.”
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
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olimp83
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 08:02 PMPeople like you make me sick. Hope he will back to business soon. Pay the taxes and help the government so they can spend more money for lazy benefiters. Don't blame 'immigrants' for the greedy lazy system in this country.
DMT48
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 01:46 AM@Common Sense No, not 'shame on us all' if it is racially motivated at all. Shame on the perpetrator - most people, even if they object to the large number of immigrants, do not go around committing violence against them. As for the 'politics of envy', you cannot burden a country in which resources, health, education, housing and now benefits, are increasingly limited, with more and more and more people, without creating a newly deprived class. It 's not about race - it's about number, just as it would be if the million or so Britons living abroad were forced to return home in a short space of time. So maybe, it's the politics of deprivation, if it is a racially motivated attack. Personally I would be grateful if the fuzz would just go around and seize the illegal goods in foreign owned stores - 'duty free' fags and alcohol. Apply the law equally please - and that also means enforcing alcohol-free zones when these shops have a number of people sitting outside, boozing on the pavement.
olimp83
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 08:29 PMPending Moderation
Common sense
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 07:18 PMChrispy--there's always a proper forum to discuss things but it so easy and simple to blame the ills of the world on "immigration" . After a while the word becomes an accepted definition of a type -usually undesirable and thereafter used by uneducated people or those with hate in mind.. Other similar examples are "Greedy Developers" . Bankers" "Politicians" which mean certain things to be disliked and of course is not the case in reality. That isn't to say mistakes haven't been made. There is a problem with unfetterred and illegal imigrants to be addressed but that should not tar all immigrants with the same brush--Jews, Italians, Irish being some examples of immigrants who have not only settled well into this Country over the years but who make a real contribution in every aspect of life.Of course a lot of that populist vile is created and fed by a certain type of media
Chrispy1
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 03:38 PM@ Common Sense...it's probably not a good idea to leap to any conclusions yet, but if it were racial, then it's hardly shame on you or me or anyone else - except the people that did it. But more widely, are you suggesting the huge influx of foreigners into the town (and elsewhere in England) shouldn't be commented on? As you know, it's a topic of conversation everywhere right now, and as I see it, it has brought benefits and problems alike. We need to be able to discuss this large social issue - publicly and politely. Interestingly, it's usually the middle classes who "don't want to talk about it" whilst it's the poorer people who feel most affected, as they feel pushed out of jobs or pushed into lower wages etc.
Common sense
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 10:46 AMShame on us all if it is racially motivated. However there are those among us who blame every problem in the UK by blaming "immigration" including regular contributors to the Chron's paper edition who oppose housing growth and use immigration as the cause or reason for needed housing growth . There's one village (can't remember which Milton or Collingtree) who's contributor (a BNP member perhaps) is very politicallyt outspoken on both of these issues-but it goes unchecked tby the Chron--so giving fuel to the fire of hatred and-or the politics of envy.
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