A 14-year-old boy has admitted setting fire to a disused factory in Sudbury.

Fire crews from across Suffolk and Essex were called to a blaze at the former Delphi Deisel Systems site in Newton Road on May 28.

Half the building was involved in the fire but at the time, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said no-one was believed to have been injured.

The boy from Suffolk, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty on Thursday to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered.

The charge specified the boy had committed arson in that without lawful excuse damaged by fire the factory building of a value unknown belonging to Future Property Holdings Ltd intending to destroy or damage property or being reckless as to whether property would be destroyed or damaged and being reckless as to whether the life of another would be thereby endangered.

A sentencing hearing will be held at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on November 14 this year, and the boy was released on conditional bail. 

The fire happened at about 5.10pm on Tuesday, May 28. 

Delphi Diesel Systems closed in mid-2020 with hundreds of job losses when the American-owned conglomerate behind the site decided to move the manufacturing operation - which made diesel fuel injectors and filters for commercial vehicles - to Romania.

The site has been empty since the closure and, following the fire, many community leaders have called for it to be restored to protect it.

The factory is approximately 100mx100m and thick black smoke could be seen across Sudbury as firefighters worked to get it under control.

A police cordon was put in place while emergency services attended the blaze, but it was lifted a short while later.