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[PIAS] chief denies Sony DADC centre targeted by organised criminals
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 5 September 2011
The MD of [PIAS] UK has dismissed those reports in the Telegraph last week that claimed the fire at the Sony DADC distribution centre in North London, started during last month’s riots, was actually the result of a deliberate attack by a criminal gang, who used civil unrest in the capital to cover their tracks. [PIAS], of course, were one of the music companies who used the centre, and they and their indie label clients were among those who lost large amounts of stock in the blaze.
As previously reported, the Telegraph last week claimed that it was an organised criminal gang who initially broke through the Sony DADC centre’s security fence as riots took place around the site. The broadsheet’s sources claimed it took two hours and specialist wire cutting equipment to break through the fence, and that the motivation for those involved in the break in was the valuable consumer electronic goods stored at the site. As the original gang drove vans onto the premises to steal said consumer electronics, they encouraged other less organised rioters to flood the site to confuse and overwhelm security staff. Somewhere in amongst all that the fire was started.
However, [PIAS] UK chief Peter Thompson says that those claims are ridiculous, that they haven’t come from any official investigation, and anyway the North London warehouse didn’t store any of the consumer electronic products the report says the thieves were after. Speaking to NME, Thompson said last week: “The whole thing is a complete fabrication. The Sony warehouse doesn’t have any of the hardware the report mentions. No PlayStations, no televisions, nothing like that. The report was so inaccurate it was unbelievable… I’ve no idea who planted the story or where the Telegraph got it, but there’s not an ounce of truth to it. The investigation is still carrying on, but this came totally out of nowhere. I think that’s why Sony and the police haven’t commented, because it’s so inaccurate”.
Police investigations into the fire, that gutted the Sony DADC facility, are ongoing.
