Follow the money and you'll find the perp. But the trouble with following the money is that money, like any other paper trail, burns.
Back in November 2005, well before police investigations began into
New Labour treasurer, Lord Levy, his
Marylebone offices were
devastated by a mysterious fire.
On Wednesday of this week Lord Levy was arrested.
The same day two massive fires also broke out in London.
So remote are the chances of this occurring, the London Fire Brigade said it was "
extraordinarily rare" to get two fires requiring 100 firefighters each, within the space of 24 hours.
One of the fires occurred at the Bow offices of
Iron Mountain, the not-so-fine purveyors of 'Information Protection and Storage'. The building held "
archived, inactive business records" but there was no mention of whose records. At the time it was reported that the building, in Twelvetrees Crescent, would be alight for two to three days.
This was the second of the two fires that occurred on the day Lord Levy was arrested.
The first happened much earlier at a building site in Colindale, North-West London,
where two buildings blazed for hours. So large were the fires that
roads were closed off and hundreds of local residents in the surrounding area were evacuated,
including staff at the Hendon Police College.
Coincidentally enough, the other notable place that was evacuated as a result of the Colindale fire was the very
police station to which
Lord Levy had been taken for questioning by the plod after his arrest.
Levy was released on bail of £250,000, but who put up the cash? Who is the firestarter, the twisted firestarter? And how many coincidences does it take to constitute a conspiracy?
--
Update: Not only was this the second London fire in a day that required the attendance of over 100 fire-fighters, it was also the second fire to befall the Iron Mountain company in as many days, the previous one having occurred a day earlier in Ottawa, Canada. In his analysis of the two fires that hit Iron Mountain facilities,
John Webster, writing for Computer World, wrote in summary:
However, there's another significant clue that points in a different direction. It turns out that the London facility contained the records of several prominent attorneys.
Here's my take: The two fires were in fact coincidental. One was an accident (Ottawa) and one was set (London). The London fire was set by a prominent socialite bent on destroying his recently late father's will -- one that did not include him.
Curiouser and curiouser.
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