'Reckless' arsonists spared jail after stealing car and torching it under Gatwick monorail

Two men have been spared jail after torching a car under the Gatwick Aiport monorail in an “appalling” incident.

Edward Maunder, 37, and Michael Lyons, 28, have been handed down a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work over their role in an incident of arson from 2023.

The court heard how the pair were due to fly to Peru for charity work but prior to departing, met a meet-and-greet driver at a bar in Crawley who they mistakenly thought was a drug dealer.

The pair took the car as reparation when the driver told them he did not have drugs.

The vehicle, a Toyota Rav 4, had been handed to a meet and greet company by a holidaymaker days earlier.

Meet and greet services are common at airports around the world and involve a representative collecting a holidaymaker’s car from the airport and driving it to a parking space.

Maunder then recorded the speedy ordeal while bragging about the night’s events in messages, claiming the police would have no evidence to catch them.

The paid were then captured on CCTV buying a jerry can of petrol before setting blaze to the car beneath the monorail which connects Gatwick Airport’s terminals.

The incident prompted the temporary closure of Gatwick’s monorail as fire teams put out the blazing car and inspected structural damage.

Both Maunder and Lyons were later arrested in an intoxicated state, with one still carrying the car key in his pocket.

When presented with evidence of their crimes, both men had no comment.

Detective Sergeant Ian Warncken of Sussex Police branded their behaviour as “appalling,” adding that their decision to set the car alight was “inexplicable.”

“Maunder and Lyons’ behaviour was reckless and appalling,” he said in a statement.

“Their reasons for deciding to not only take the vehicle, but to set fire to it, are inexplicable.

“They risked causing serious harm to themselves and to the public, and risked disruption to the airport.”