Man admits arson at MP Sharon Hodgson’s Washington office building

A man has admitted setting a fire that caused significant damage to a building containing the constituency office of Labour MP Sharon Hodgson.

The blaze started at Vermont House, in Washington, where the Washington and Gateshead South MP is one of a number of tenants, just after midnight on Thursday.

Joshua Oliver, 28, pleaded guilty at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court to arson and burglary but his defence barrister said he denied it had “anything to do with” the MP.

Mr Oliver, of no fixed abode, has been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing at the city’s crown court on 14 October.

The court heard Mr Oliver had been living in a tent near the building, which is in the Concord area of Washington, near Sunderland.

The fire destroyed the front of the building and damaged the offices of a small charity for people with very rare genetic diseases and an NHS mental health service for veterans which are based in the same building.

The defence said Mr Oliver accepted the arson charge, on the basis that it was reckless rather than intentional.

The Crown did not accept that basis of plea.

Mr Oliver also pleaded guilty to theft of a power tool on 10 September and a number of criminal damage offences committed between July and September.