AusLeisure

Awaiting sentencing having pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 11 counts of conspiracy to commit arson in relation to firebombing attacks against rival amusement hire business, a Melbourne Court has heard that James Balcombe is apparently living in fear in his prison cell after being hospitalised following an assault.

Balcombe, aged 58, appeared via videolink in the County Court of Victoria last month, with his lawyer advising that his client lives in “constant fear” of a fellow inmate who assaulted him.

While the men Balcombe got to commit the firebombing attacks were sentenced last year, Balcombe has spent more than 800 days in pre-sentence detention.

Having been charged in 2018, Balcombe fled to Western Australia, living under a false identity while manufacturing fraudulent postal stamps - for which he was later convicted.

He was arrested in Perth by the Australian Federal Police in August 2020 before being extradited to Melbourne where he has remained in custody.

Balcombe owned a party hire and jumping castle business, Awesome Party Hire, when he hired two men - former employee Peter Wally Smith and Craig Anderson - to commit arson attacks to “wipe out” competitors across Melbourne.

Tullamarine business Xtreme Party Hire was targeted twice, while CRP Tarp’s at Werribee were targeted three times in total.

A&A Jumping Castles, located at Hoppers Crossing, was targeted in a fourth arson attempt in the early hours of 12th January 2017.

The two-storey premises, at which amusement equipment including go-karts and a mechanical bull, in addition to 110 jumping castles were being stored, was gutted by flames.

Balcombe later razed his own business to the ground to avoid suspicion, subsequently an insurance claim.

At the most recent Court hearing, his lawyer Simon Kenny Ccourt his client’s mental health condition made imprisonment more onerous for Balcombe.

Judge Stewart Bayles adjourned Balcombe’s sentencing to a date yet to be fixed, but expressed an aim to sentence him in “coming weeks”.

Image: James Balcombe (top, credit: Victoria Police) and James Balcombe was arrested in Perth in 2020, where he was living under an alias (below, credit: Australian Federal Police).

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