Arson of police officers in Ratingen (D): Frank P. must be locked up for life

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Seven months after an arson attack on emergency services in a high-rise building in Ratingen (D), North Rhine-Westphalia, the Düsseldorf Regional Court sentenced the suspect to life imprisonment. In Wednesday’s verdict, the court also pointed out the special seriousness of his guilt, a court spokeswoman said. This means that early release from prison for Frank P.* (57) is largely ruled out.

The court convicted the suspect of attempted murder and other crimes. With the verdict, the court followed the request of the public prosecutor. The defense did not formulate a specific sentence in its plea, but wondered whether the suspect could have guessed the size of the fire he caused.

Frank P. barricaded the door of the apartment

P. had poured several liters of gasoline at a police officer in his apartment and ignited it after the emergency services came to his apartment. They had been called by the property manager because neighbors had not seen P.’s mother for a while and the mailbox was overflowing.

On the day of the crime, a police officer and her colleague and seven other rescue workers approached the tenth-floor apartment. Despite ringing the doorbell, no one answered, so emergency services used force to open the door, which was barricaded from the inside with water tanks.

Officials set a fire

There was a strong putrid smell coming from the apartment; P. is said to have lived next to his mother’s corpse for several weeks. According to the verdict, while the officers were already in the apartment, the defendant poured four to six liters of gasoline in the direction of the police officer and threw a burning piece of cloth behind him.

As a result, there was an explosive ignition, with flames filling the areas of the entrance to the apartment and the arcade in front of the apartment. Emergency services fled through the stairwell, some of which were on fire. Eight of them probably suffered permanent skin damage. Some emergency services were in mortal danger for weeks. (AFP)

*Name known

Source: Blick