A GARAGE boss who let an arsonist have one of his cars but then held up police enquiries by lying has been spared jail.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Sean Wiggins, 41, made a statement claiming the car had remained on his lot, kept on fibbing and officers had to make further investigations into the fire at a Bacup house.
Wiggins had been facing a possible prison sentence but he walked free after Judge Andrew Woolman said Craig Butterworth, the man who caused the fire, might have pressurised him.
Wiggins, of Riverstone Bridge, Littleborough, Rochdale, admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice. He was given a six-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, with 40 hours unpaid work and must pay £420 costs.
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