A vehicle located on an east London street led investigators to lay an attempted murder charge against a man accused of setting another man ablaze, police say.
The accused and the victim first got into a fight at Noel Avenue, southeast of Trafalgar Street and Clarke Road, Monday evening before leaving separately, police said.
Then, emergency crews were called around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday to a report of a man on fire near Admiral Drive and Trafalgar, police said.
“The citizen called 911 as the victim was on fire,” Const. Sandasha Bough said.
The flames were doused before police arrived and a description of the suspect and a vehicle were provided to police, Bough said.
The injured man, 29, was taken to hospital where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday.
Officers located a vehicle in the 1800-block of Royal Crescent – just blocks away from the scene of the near-fatal fire attack – around 3 a.m. in relation to an unrelated hit-and-run investigation and arrested a man for impaired driving, police said.
Officers determined the man was the suspect in the attempted murder case, police said.
“The investigators worked very well at putting the pieces together,” Bough said.
Bradley Joudrey, 32, of London, is charged with attempted murder, impaired driving and having a blood-alcohol level exceeding the allowed limit.
He appeared briefly by video in a London courtroom, where he was ordered not to communicate with more than a dozen people. The case was adjourned until Friday.
Back at the scene, evidence markers surrounded two patches of charred grass near a townhouse complex. A baseball hat, sweater and flip flops were among debris scattered through a crime scene that stretched into the parking lot of a nearby commercial plaza.
A London police forensic team and Ontario Fire Marshal’s investigator spent the morning scouring the scene for evidence and taking photos.
A white SUV sat covered in a black tarp in the plaza parking lot, less than 20 metres from the charred grass and debris.
A clerk at a variety store in the plaza, which also houses a pizzeria and barber shop, said the store was closed at the time of the incident and he had instructed investigators to contact his company’s head office to request surveillance footage.
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This is the second time someone has been set ablaze in London in the last year.
A London man, 34, was charged with attempted murder after his 67-year-old father was attacked in the Glen Cairn neighbourhood on July 25, 2021.
Two men were fighting in the street near Thompson Road and Jacqueline Street when one doused the other in a liquid and set him on fire, witnesses said at the time.
Officers used a fire extinguisher and blanket to snuff out the flames before the man was taken to hospital in critical condition, police said.
The case remains before the courts.
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