Two arsonists have pleaded guilty to a spate of deliberate fires that caused £1.1 million in damage across the county.
Connor Luck and Joshua Brinkley left a trail of destruction by targeting barns, derelict buildings and even a car in a near five month spree in Sussex.
The pair tormented farmers by causing £1,117,825 worth of damage in their targeted arson attacks in the early hours of the morning.
The attacks, which happened between June and November 2021, prompted huge responses from firefighters who often spent days battling the blazes.
Luck, 21, and Brinkley, 19, appeared at Hove Crown Court today where they pleaded guilty to arson.
Brinkley, of Southfield in Polegate, was charged with seven counts of arson, while Luck, of Balls Green in Withyham, near Crowborough, was charged with two counts.
The prosecution offered no evidence against Oliver Williams, 19, so his charges were dropped.
The spree started in late June 2021 when police attended a blaze at a derelict building in Horsham.
The fires mostly happened in the Polegate, Seafordand Newhaven areas.
At 10.27pm on Friday, June 26, 2021, police were called by West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to a large fire at a derelict property in Broadwater Lane, Horsham.
On Thursday, July 8, at 3.39am, police were alerted by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to a large fire at a derelict property in Wivelsfield Green where eight fire engines were in attendance.
At 7.23am on Sunday, August 29, police were called by East Sussex Fire and Rescue to a large deliberate fire at two outbuildings in Lower Willingdon that contained cylinders and farm machinery.
On Tuesday, November 2, at 2.54am, police assisted East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service with a large fire in a barn on farmland off the A26 at Beddingham.
At 4.32am on Thursday November 4, police were called to assist East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service with road closures following a hay bale fire at a vineyard in Alfriston Road near Rathfinny, Alfriston.
On Saturday, November 6, at 10.49pm, police attended two large barns on fire in Tarring Neville with smoke going towards the A26.
At 4.04am on Sunday, November 7, police were contacted by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service about a silver Vauxhall Corsa being on fire in Lewes Road, Ringmer.
And at 5.28am on the same day, police assisted the fire service with a road closure following a large fire involving haybales within a field in Litlington Road, near Litlington and Seaford.
Luck and Brinkley will be sentenced on August 14.
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