Only 17 people in Britain secured compensation for arson-related injuries from government scheme in 2024
Shocking figures collected by Legal Expert show that under 7% of arson offences in Dorset lead to the perpetrator facing charges.
Legal Expert also found that seven arson crimes led to victims suffering harm, while well over half of all investigations collapsed because the offender could not even be identified.
Bournemouth named region’s capital of arson attacks
Between January 2022 and December 2024, arsonists struck 445 times in Dorset. The number of incidents were consistent over the three years, going from 141 in 2022 to 149 the year after, and then 155 in 2024. Dorset Police was the only force, other than London’s Met Police, to find that arson offences went up in both 2023 and 2024.
2025 has already seen a number of arson attacks reported, with Dorset Police currently looking into a string of fire-raising offences in the Wareham area that caused over £30,000 worth of damage.
Around a third of all arson incidents happened in Bournemouth, according to the figures, with the town appearing 151 times in the records.
Poole, with 100 cases, was the only other place impacted more than once per month on average.
Third in the list is Weymouth, significantly behind the other two with 35 arson offences linked to it. Christchurch (27), Bridport (17) and Wimborne Minster (14) are the other places in double figures.
Verwood was host to nine arson incidents, while there were eight in Dorchester and Guys Marsh. Rounding off the list of top arson sites are Ferndown, Portland and Swanage, with seven apiece.
Dorset Police’s records suggest that 54 towns or villages were impacted by arson at some point in the past three years.
Six arson crimes led to ‘slight’ injuries for victims, with one causing ‘serious’ harm.
Dorset’s figures reflect nationwide struggle to punish arsonists
Dorset Police said that 120 arrests were made over three years, a significant 27% of all offences leading to a detention. Only two months in the past three years–August 2022 and February 2023–passed without someone being arrested under suspicion of arson.
Only 28 investigations have the outcome ‘charged’, indicating that 6.3% of arson offences led to someone being charged with the crime. While it means more than nine in every ten offenders did not get charged, this figure is still north of the national average.
Home Office statistics released in January indicate that just 4.4% of criminal damage and arson offenders were charged or summonsed in the year ending September 2024, a small increase on the 4.1% that faced charges in the 12 months before.
Legal Expert learned through data shared by 31 forces that fewer than 5% of arson-specific investigations in the UK led to a charge, with Essex Police saying that only two charges were dished out despite looking into over 3,000 offences.
Ten forces shared data showing that investigations into arson offences had a 70% chance of being closed without the offender ever being found. In Dorset, 58% of investigations were closed with the reason ‘Investigation complete, no suspect found’.
Another 34 cases collapsed when the suspect was identified and the victim supported action, but ‘evidential difficulties’ got in the way.
Seven-year-old among suspected arsonists
Dorset Police collected the age and gender of 166 suspects, finding that the most common age of an arsonist in the region was 32 years old. 11 suspects were that age when they entered police records, slightly ahead of the 10 people aged 42 and nine 14-year-olds.
People aged 18 and under made up 17% of the total pool of suspects, making Dorset Police one of just three forces (Staffordshire Police and Met Police being the others) to find that fewer than a fifth of suspects were under 18.
A seven-year-old and two 11-year old boys were among the accused offenders, with a 12-year-old being the youngest female suspect. Men aged 60, 65 and 72 were the three oldest offenders on record.
From polling 30 police forces, Legal Expert found that 34% of suspects were in the lowest age bracket when the age could be logged, with almost all being under 18 years old.
118 offenders, or 71% of the total number of suspected arsonists, were identified as male.
Additionally, Legal Expert asked police forces how many of the 256 suspects were looked into more than once for arson offences committed between the start of 2020 and the end of 2024. Dorset Police said that 19 people met this definition of a ‘repeat offender’.
Arson victims mostly disappointed in search for compensation
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is a government-supported agency that compensates injured victims or families of those killed in violent crimes.
Legal Expert found that 464 arson victims sought a payment through the agency’s compensation scheme across the three years. However, only 76 received a payment, with just 17 successful claims made in 2024.
The CICA rejected 98 claims after deeming the incident not to be a “crime of violence”. Another 54 were told their injuries were not applicable under the agency’s strict compensation tariff, while 42 people’s claims collapsed because they “did not take reasonable steps to assist the CICA”.
Those successful received a total of £102,260, working out at £1,345.53 per claim on average. Just £2,400 has been paid out so far for the 79 claims launched in 2024.
Less than 60% of claims have been resolved, leaving 194 people waiting to learn their fate.
Legal Expert criminal injury specialist Ellie Lamey said, “It’s incredible that so few people have made a claim when thousands and thousands of arson offences have affected lives around the country. With charge rates also being low, victims might be wondering how to get some form of justice.
“Victims who have sustained injuries, whether physical or psychological, due to violent crimes like arson have the right to seek compensation, and they don’t have to wait for someone to be charged or convicted of the offence to do so.
“As long as the crime is reported to the police and they cooperate with an investigation, victims can explore their chances of compensation through the CICA.
“We’ve helped many people who didn’t realise just how much they could receive by claiming with the support of an expert.”
Legal Expert is a 24/7 service that provides detailed guidance on criminal injury compensation claims, including CICA applications.
Through free consultations offered online and over the phone, it connects claimants with experienced criminal law experts.
