Do Sussex police actually take arson seriously any more?

I ask because there have been five cases of arson in Bexhill alone this year, the last of them ruining the grand old Grand Hotel.

To my knowledge, there has been only one arrest and that person was released on bail.

If any charges have been laid, I have yet to see news of them.

With a record like that, I don't like the chances of anyone being arrested for torching the West Pier.

Arson used to be one of the most serious crimes on the books yet our police seem to treat it these days as little more than a misdemeanour.

What will they do when people get killed as a result of an arsonist's activities?

-Sinclair Robieson, Bexhill