An estimated £35,000 worth of damage was caused when the historic doors of one of Truro Cathedral’s buildings were destroyed by fire, after a dropped cigarette set off a dramatic chain of events.

However, a court heard today (Wednesday) that the man responsible for the blaze initially had no idea he was behind it.

Before Truro Crown Court was 63-year-old Stephen Chown, who pleaded guilty to committing arson while being reckless as to whether property would be destroyed or damaged.

Judge Simon Carr was told this was not the intention of Chown, however, who had been sleeping rough in the doorway of a building belonging to Truro Cathedral in Cathedral Close, Truro during the early hours of October 5 last year.

Deciding to smoke, he dropped the cigarette to the floor - but this set alight cardboard he had been sleeping under.

The court was told Chown believed the only impact of this was that his source of shelter was now destroyed, so he left to find somewhere else to sleep in another part of the city.

However, this was not the end of the matter, as the flames from the cardboard set alight nearby gas cannisters.

As a result, the listed wooden doors of Cathedral House were set alight – and it was only the quick response from fire crews that prevented the flames from spreading and causing even more extensive damage.

Prosecutor Herc Ashworth told the court: “As a result of the fire the doors at the rear of the building were destroyed. It’s a listed building and those doors were historic.

“There was also fairly extensive smoke damage [inside].

“The estimate currently stands at about £35,000 worth of damage.”

Heat damaged the door, which allowed smoke to enter. The fire crews had to force entry, finding “significant smoke” throughout the building, which had to be cleared by high pressure ventilation fans once jets had been used to extinguish the flames in the doorway.

“It could have been a lot worse. It could have escalated to combustibles inside the door,” added Mr Ashworth.

Chown initially said someone else had set fire to the cardboard.

He has a previous conviction for arson, as well as convictions for a number of criminal damage offences dating back to 1987, the most recent being in 2021.

Defence barrister Chris Cuddihee, speaking on behalf of Chown, said the defendant had only now changed his plea to one of guilty because he initially believed someone else must have set fire to the doors.

“He couldn’t believe it was something he could have done,” explained Mr Cuddihee, who added that no one was at risk in the building due to it being used as an office, the offence taking place at night.

Judge Carr said Chown had “dropped a cigarette and something terrible happened.”

In sentencing the defendant, he said: “You have been street homeless on and off, probably for a lot of your life. You have a long-standing addiction to drugs.

“The door in question [was somewhere] you were attempting live - in the sixth richest country in the world - under cardboard.

“You smoked, you dropped a cigarette and it caught the cardboard. You had no possible way of knowing it was going to ignite gas canisters. It did and caused damage to a listed building.

“You were just trying to find somewhere dry to sleep.”

He said under these circumstances, the four months Chown had spent in custody since his arrest on October 6 last year was “more than sufficient” as it represented the equivalent of an eight-month prison sentence.

Judge Carr therefore sentenced Chown to a six-month sentence of imprisonment for the offence, resulting in his immediate release today.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue reported at the time of the incident that fire crews from Truro and Tolvaddon were called Cathedral Close in Truro just before 4am on the night in question.

They said an external fire had spread to a 40x40 metre detached building, with arson believed to be the cause.