Northwood mansion fire: Police arrest two men, aged 20 and 69 after $24million Sydney home destroyed
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Breakthrough in the $24 million harborside mansion fire as two men, ages 20 and 69, are arrested for the fire that destroyed a luxury home
- Two men arrested for luxury house that was destroyed in September
- A 69-year-old man and another 20-year-old were arrested this Wednesday morning
- The $24 million mansion caught fire around 11 p.m. on September 3.
Two men have been arrested for an arson attack that reduced a luxury mansion to rubble.
The $24 million mansion in Northwood, on Sydney’s lower north shore, caught fire on September 3 and specialist forensic officers later determined that the fire had been set deliberately.
On Wednesday morning, detectives with the Arson Squad searched a property in Wentworth Falls, arresting a 69-year-old man and impounding a vehicle.
A 20-year-old man was arrested a short time later at a property in Punchbowl.
Two men were arrested for arson that reduced a luxury mansion to rubble
The $24 million mansion in Northwood, on Sydney’s lower north shore, caught fire on September 3 and specialist forensic officers later determined that the fire was set deliberately.
Police will address the media later today.
The arrests come a day after detectives from the New South Wales Police arson squad issued a call for information on the mystery arsonist after their investigation turned up no significant leads nearly two months after the fire.
Police released pictures of the street the night of the fire and asked anyone who sees a specific van in the area to contact detectives.
Footage showed the vehicle, described as a silver Toyota HiAce van with a roof rack, driving on and near Cliff Road at the time of the fire.
Street CCTV showed the area to be pitch black until a fireball erupted inside the Northwood house.
On Wednesday morning, detectives with the Arson Squad searched a property in Wentworth Falls, arresting a 69-year-old man and impounding a vehicle.
Shortly after a 20-year-old man was arrested at a house in Punchbowl for the arson that reduced the mansion to rubble.
A man was then captured running towards the truck shortly after the flames engulfed him, and police believe he left the scene in the Toyota truck.
Specialist sniffer dogs from NSW Fire and Rescue were brought in to investigate the fire and the expert animals detected traces of an accelerant in the ruins of the property.
Despite the best efforts of two trucks and 50 firefighters, the house sustained significant damage.
No one was home at the time and no injuries were reported.
The house (pictured, before the fire) was built in 1915, purchased in 1961 by the Rossi family, and sold last year for $24 million.
Before the house burned down, the property was one of the largest private lots in the city, with a 150-foot waterfront.
The 5,000-square-foot property jutted out into the Lane Cove River and was bordered by Federation-style estates.
The property had been embroiled in neighborhood development disputes for the past five years.
More to come.