MAIDSTONE – A 32-year-old woman has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after deliberately starting a fire in a Gillingham residential building and assaulting police officers during her arrest.
Amie Bray was handed a total custodial sentence of 40 months at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday, March 20, 2026. The charges followed an incident on May 5, 2025, when Bray set fire to her home on Copenhagen Road at approximately 11:00 p.m., endangering neighboring residents.
During the police response, Bray became combative, kicking one officer while being detained and later slapping a second officer while being placed into a holding cell. She subsequently pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
The court sentenced Bray to 28 months for the arson and two months to run concurrently for the assaults. However, the judge added a further year to her sentence for breaching a previous suspended sentence order. Bray had been remanded in custody since her arrest leading up to the Friday hearing.
Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Emily Matthews, said:
‘Bray’s reckless attempt to deliberately cause a fire in her flat put other residents’ lives at risk, and it is right that she should face the consequences of her actions. Fires can quickly get out of control in any setting, but especially so in a block of flats at night when other people may be asleep. Her neighbours will certainly feel safer now she is behind bars.’