Doralane Pastries: Spencer Park bakery owner charged with torching shop to claim $3 million insurance

The owner of a Great Southern bakery has been charged with torching her popular shop days before brazenly lodging an insurance claim worth almost $3 million. Albany detectives charged the woman with arson and attempted fraud after they began investigating the fire that gutted Doralane Pastries in Spencer Park on October 12. The 50-year-old was on Wednesday charged over the blaze, with detectives alleging she lodged an insurance claim that could have entitled her to $2.7m. A police spokesperson said the fire caused about $955,000 in damage to the building, while a woman understood to be a staff member was taken to hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. The front windows of the building, on Angove Road, were smashed during the fire before it was engulfed by flames. It took firefighters nearly 30 minutes to bring the blaze under control. The spokesperson said the woman allegedly lodged the claim over the fire “a few days later” after “deliberately setting fire to her premises”. “Her policy stated she was entitled to $500,000 for contents insurance and a further $2.2 million in business interruption compensation,” the spokesperson said. The woman has been charged with criminal damage by fire and attempting to gain benefit by fraud. She will front Albany Magistrates Court on December 12.