Briton 'torched mansion from 300 miles' by laptop
A BRITISH expat has been accused of using a bizarre remote control computer scam to burn down his house from more than 300 miles away.
Chris Robinson is accused of burning down a mansion
Chris Robinson is said to have staged a £1million insurance fraud using his laptop to trigger a device which could light a match.
Mr Robinson, 68, is claiming compensation after his mansion on New Zealand’s North Island was razed to the ground.
But his insurance company has refused to pay out, claiming he used the laptop at a friend’s home to log on to his home computer and set the destructive sequence in motion.
The insurance company has refused to pay out
Investigators claim he activated a printer inside the mansion.
A piece of paper was then fed into the machine, pulling a string which was taped to it that then flicked an electrical switch connected to the other end.
The Insurance Australia Group team believe the switch then transmitted a current through a wire, igniting matches positioned next to flammable material.
Robinson is said to have used a remote device to start the fire
IAG is fighting a compensation claim for the house in Kerikeri on the basis that the fire was started deliberately by Mr Robinson, a married father-of-two.
Originally, police charged him with arson and falsifying his insurance claim but he was acquitted last May because no evidence of the laptop command was produced in court.
The insurance firm claims a laptop was used to start the fire
But the insurance firm produced a video of a system they claimed replicated that which was allegedly used by Mr Robinson.
They also recovered the remnants of his second computer and allege they found files showing it had been remotely accessed on the night of the blaze.
The case continues.