A WOMAN has gone on trial accused of being an arsonist who started three fires in Bradninch and Crediton in the space of three months.

Charlotte Godbeer is alleged to have started fires at her neighbour’s and her mother’s houses before setting light to her own home.

She posed as a rescuer in the first two cases, raising the alarm and helping others get out of the burning buildings, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Godbeer was allegedly drunk when she set the fires and was abusive to police and firefighters who were called to the scene. She was found in her living room surrounded by empty beer cans during the final blaze.

Firemen had to use a sledge hammer and bolt cutters to break through her back door before rescuing her from her council house in Bradninch, which she had only just returned to after staying away for three months.

Charlotte Godbeer, aged 36, formerly of Passmore Road, Bradninch, denied two counts of arson, intending to endanger life and three of arson being reckless whether life was endangered.

The counts of reckless arson are alternatives to the more serious counts of intending to endanger life.

Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said the three fires were at her next door neighbour’s house in Bradninch on June 13, 2021; her mother’s house at Sunnyside, Sandford, near Crediton on August 23, 2021, and at her own home on September 27, 2021.

He said Godbeer woke the woman who lives next door some time after 11pm on June 13 to tell her that her house was burning and that she was tackling the fire with a bucket of water. She went on to help her neighbour’s son escape.

She was abusive to her neighbour, police and firefighters, all of whom thought she was drunk. She was later found in the attic of her own home and naked from the waist down.

She said she had found the house alight and raised the alarm. Fire investigators discovered the blaze was started by a wetsuit and a mop being pushed through a cat flap and set alight.

Fire experts found evidence of previous small fires at Godbeer’s house with soot on a mattress, scorch marks on a table, and burns to a window from an incident on May 23 which she claimed at the time were caused by a dropped cigarette.

Mr Coombe said Godbeer went to live with her mother in Sandford but there was another, more serious fire which broke out in the early hours of August 23.

She woke her mother to say she thought someone was outside but they then heard the crackling sound of fire and the house filled with smoke.

Godbeer escorted her mother out and returned to the building to rescue pets and to tackle the blaze with a hosepipe before the fire brigade arrived and extinguished it.

The fire caused extensive damage and was found to have been started in the boiler room, although the boiler itself was ruled out as a potential cause.

The final fire happened the day she moved back into her home at Passmore Road, Bradninch, where her neighbour spotted a fire at around 11pm and called the emergency services.

Firefighters found the doors locked and bolted but broke in and rescued Godbeer from her living room. She blamed her neighbour for starting the fire.

Mr Coombe said there was no direct evidence linking Godbeer to any of the fires but they were linked by her being present on each occasion.

He said: “Another hallmark is that she effectively tried to play the hero, claiming to have got water to put out the fire at her neighbour’s home and returning to her mother’s house to rescue pets.

“We say she has a fascination with fire and a propensity to set them. It is not just an extraordinary coincidence that so many fires occurred  in such a short space of time when she was present.”

The trial continues.