Police released my abusive ex – hours later he burned down my house as I slept but that wasn't the biggest tragedy
WHEN Louise Simpson walks past the family home where she raised her son it isn't nostalgia that she feels but despair.
It was the sight of one of the most harrowing events of her life and one that saw Louise lose not only dozens of sentimental memories but also her beloved pet dog.
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Her violent ex, Adrian West, who was caught attacking her home on her doorbell camera returned hours after being released by police to burn it down as she slept.
West had subjected Louise to months of violent attacks including strangling, punching and kicking.
She finally kicked him out of her house in Crawley, Sussex, but the 61-year-old returned and smashed her doorbell camera using a rock.
Louise, 53, called the police and West spent a night in the cells before being released without charge the following day.
But later that day he returned to the property and started a fire in the porch which quickly engulfed the house.
Louise - who was taking a nap at the time - was woken by neighbours and scrambled to escape as her bedroom was filled with thick black smoke.
But her beloved British Bulldog Peggy was frozen in terror under the bed - and Louise was forced to abandon her in order to save her own life.
West has now been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to arson and a string of assaults on Louise.
She is now campaigning for a change in the law to consider companion animals as sentient beings rather than property as they are currently seen.
Reliving the arrest, Louise says: 'The police came out and arrested him.
"I was sobbing, saying: 'Whatever happens, I just don't want him to be able to come near me again'. So he was kept in custody overnight.
'They called me about 10.45am the next morning and said that he was going to be released with no further action.
'I said: 'Well, what do I do? He's going to come back.' And they said they can't do anything unless he does something more.
"They genuinely seemed to be more worried about how abusive he'd been to the arresting officers the day before.'
Louise called police on September 13 last year when a drunk West tried to smash her door and Ring doorbell camera with a rock. She wouldn't open the door and called the police.
He was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and held overnight at a local police station.
Louise was told they could not take further action because she had not signed the witness statement she had provided.
She says: "At the time I didn't particularly want to get him in too much trouble, I thought he isn't getting any younger and all I wanted was for him to just leave me alone.
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"I asked the police that whatever happened could they please just warn him about coming back to my house again"
Fearing that West would return to her house the following day, she blocked the front door with a toolbox and stockpiled food for a few days.
She was 'shattered' and laid down for a nap. A heavy sleeper, she awoke at 3.16pm to her neighbours raising the alarm that her house was on fire.
Fire forensics later told Louise they believe he used white spirit as an accelerant.
Three-year-old Peggy hid under the bed and was too heavy for Louise to drag her out.
"If she decided she wasn't going to move, you could not move her," Louise says.
"I was desperately trying, but I couldn't breathe, so I ran down the stairs.'
Louise was able to pull the toolbox out of the way but once outside she ran back in in a second attempt to rescue Peggy.
"I was trying to cover my mouth with my hands and putting my T-shirt over my mouth but because the smoke was so thick I couldn't breathe,' she says.
'My neighbours were all telling me to get out.'
Firefighters rescued Peggy from the house but were unable to resuscitate her.
Louise stayed with her son Connor, 28, after the fire.
She says: 'For about four or five days, I couldn't eat. I just laid on the sofa. I didn't wash, didn't brush my teeth.
'I was just crying non-stop, I couldn't take it all in.'
She now stays between her Connor's house and a friend's in nearby Crawley.
The council offered her alternative accommodation but she would prefer to move back into her house once it is repaired in about a year.
She says: 'I've lived in that home for 28 years. I raised my son there. I've got good memories there as well.'
Her possessions suffered fire, smoke or water damage.
Louise lost personal photos, her mum's ashes, a hairbrush which had her mum's hair still in it, an elephant made for her by her daughter-in-law out of her mum's clothes and Connor's baby clothes she was saving for her grandchildren.
West, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court to arson with intent, criminal damage, non-fatal strangulation, common assault and two counts of actual bodily harm on May 2.
He was sentenced to six years and three months in jail.
Louise is upset that Peggy's death was not considered in the sentencing.
She wants offenders to be punished for killing companion animals like dogs and cats.
She adds: 'Peggy's life was given as much value as a bookcase.
'She was my absolute world.
'What I used to go through with him, she was the one constant that was there by my side; my best friend.'
A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "West was arrested on 13 September 2024 on suspicion of criminal damage and spent the night in custody.
'He was released without charge as the victim did not wish to sign a statement at the time."
The Ministry of Justice says it has no plans to change the law.
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