This is Leicestershire --A shisha café boss has gone on trial accused of endangering lives by starting a £100,000 fire at a rival's business.
Imtiyaz Patel (28) allegedly torched Cloud Nine shisha café, on the third floor of Curzon House, in Curzon Street, St Matthew's, Leicester. The lower floors of the building, a textile factory, were evacuated.
Fourteen fire engines attended the scene, on October 25. Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.
At Leicester Crown Court, Patel, who ran The Unit café, in Belgrave Gate, denies arson recklessly endangering lives.
After his arrest in November, he allegedly confessed in a police interview, saying his business was not doing well and he caused the fire out of "spite".
Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said: "We say it was the defendant who set those premises alight.
"In August to September last year, the defendant took over The Unit café which made him a competitor of Cloud Nine."
A phone call reporting the fire was made at 11.17am.
The jurors were shown CCTV footage of Patel, a former electrician, allegedly parking his Vauxhall Corsa outside the building shortly before the fire.
Wearing a jacket with the hood up, he was filmed walking inside, carrying two bags.
Inside, he allegedly used a crowbar to enter the café.
Wires were cut as the CCTV system hard drive was allegedly removed and the intruder alarm deactivated.
Miss Rose said: "He's seen leaving by the same door and there's smoke visible in the air."
On November 12, a cleaner in St James Road, Highfields, discovered a CCTV hard drive, a green canvas bag and a cigarette lighter in a dustbin, two doors from where the defendant's brother lived and where Patel's car was registered.
Miss Rose said: "It was identified as being the same hard drive."
"The dark green bag is the same bag you saw the defendant carrying," she told the jury.
When arrested on November 30, Patel, of Herschell Street, Highfields, Leicester, initially denied any involvement and claimed his Corsa was in the garage for repairs at the time.
He accepted knowing where the Cloud Nine CCTV hard drive was hidden.
He said the green bag was his, claiming he had left it somewhere.
When the police showed him CCTV footage of him entering, using a crowbar upstairs and leaving, Patel said: "It wasn't supposed to be that big."
Miss Rose said: "He said his business was in difficulties and he started it out of spite.
"He accepted it was him in the footage and his vehicle was parked outside and wasn't at a garage.
"He said he forced the door open with a crowbar and removed the hard drive.
"He had difficulty starting the fire and found a lighter behind the counter which he used.
"He said he poured petrol to ignite the fire and even went into detail about when and where he purchased the petrol. He was asked if anyone had put him up to starting the fire and he said no-one had."
Liakut Sheikh, owner of Cloud Nine, said he had considered Patel a family friend and had known him for about five years.
Mr Sheikh said despite having "some form of insurance", he was unable to continue with his business that had taken two years to build up.
He estimated loss and fire damage in excess of £100,000.
Mr Sheikh was cross-examined about an ongoing dispute with a brother-in-law.
It involved accusations on both sides about a car being set on fire.
Defence counsel, Earl Pinnock, asked Mr Sheikh if he initially considered the Cloud Nine arson to be linked with the in-law dispute.
Mr Sheikh said: "No. I knew he (the brother-in-law) didn't know where the hard drive was."
He said Patel would have known where it was.
However, he did say when he attended the scene of the fire he saw his brother-in-law driving by smiling.
The trial continues. Reported by This is 2 days ago.