There were two-foot-high flames, Hull Crown Court heard
A drug addict who thought that he had been “ripped off” by a woman decided to “show her” her who was boss by setting her dressing gown on fire “out of revenge” in a shared house. Other neighbours soon spotted the two-foot-high flames and quickly put them out.
The arsonist, James Burton, was seen laughing nearby as the other people hurriedly stamped on the flames to put them out, Hull Crown Court heard. Burton, 25, of Melrose Street, off Anlaby Road, west Hull, but recently in custody on remand, admitted arson, being reckless as to whether the lives others were endangered, on August 8.
Stephen Robinson, prosecuting, said that Burton and four other people were living at the time in flats of multiple occupancy. Burton started shouting and banging on a door after apparently being told that a woman and others were taking drugs but there was no evidence that they were doing this.
He continued banging and shouting. He went upstairs to another room but, 20 minutes later, the woman’s friend could smell smoke.
The man opened the door to her room and the woman could see clothes on fire outside her room. There were two-foot-high flames. Burton was near the stairs laughing.
Two other friends were stamping on the flames and they were able to put the flames out. The woman’s dressing gown had been set on fire.
A couple of days later, Burton asked if the police were involved. He claimed that he had been “ripped off” and that he and the woman had fought.
He said that he set the woman’s dressing gown on fire inside the flat and left it outside her room door. He was arrested on August 14 and admitted that he set fire to the dressing gown.
He accused the woman of behaving badly towards him and that he set fire to the dressing gown to “show her” but the gown got so hot that he put it down. “He accepted acting out of revenge following the earlier disagreement,” said Mr Robinson.
Burton accepted that he had a cannabis and crack cocaine addiction. He had convictions for four previous offences, all relating to possessing heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that Burton acted out of frustration while living in shared accommodation, which was not the best place for him, with his drug use and other problems. “He can very much see how serious the consequences could have been with the fire and he very much regrets his actions,” said Miss Lee. He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
Judge Tahir Khan KC said that Burton wrongly thought that something was going on in the woman’s home and he “took umbrage at that” and set fire to a dressing gown belonging to her. “Other neighbours doused the fire and it was something and nothing by the end of it,” said Judge Khan. Arson was a serious offence, however.
Burton was jailed for two years.
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