A Tayside sex killer who torched her home in a bid to “burn her old life” put the lives of her neighbours in danger.
Victoria Kydd was warned by a sheriff she could be sent back to prison for making a concerted effort to cause a blaze in her Newburgh home.
Kydd piled paper and clothes in pans on her cooker and set a fire to them which was extinguished by heroic passers-by who spotted smoke and flames.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that when the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service were at the scene Kydd tried to torch the flat for a second time.
Sheriff Paul Brown deferred sentence on Kydd but told her she should “not read into that that you will not receive a custodial sentence”.
Set fire in flat
The court heard how Kydd, 43, had previously served a five-year prison sentence for stabbing her lover to death when he refused to have sex with her.
Fiscal depute Gavin Burton told the court: “She has one previous conviction at the High Court for culpable homicide.
“She was sentenced to five years on December 4, 2006.
“The accused had been in a relationship with Daryl Mayer for three years.
“It ended in 2018 and they remained friends.
“He visited on January 5, 2021.
“He saw her setting light to papers using the gas hob.
“He asked what she was doing and she said she was burning her old life.
“She became angry and told him to leave. He left.”
Brave due extinguish blaze
Mr Burton said Stuart and Elaine Ingram were walking past the property when they heard a smoke alarm and looked up to see flames belching out of one of the windows.
“Mr Ingram went inside with another unknown male and went to the kitchen which was full of smoke.
“They saw pots full of clothes and paper on top of the hob.”
The brave duo put out the fire and searched the flat but could not find anyone.
They heard smashing glass and discovered Kydd breaking windows and causing shards of glass to fall into the street.
Firefighters arrived and discovered the burned clothing in the sink.
Kydd refused to come out of her bedroom but asked one of the firefighters for a glass of water.
Moments later he heard the fire alarm sounding again and went back upstairs to discover Kydd standing over the cooker, with a new batch of smouldering blankets.
Kydd then threw a lit cigarette at a police officer as he approached to arrest her and he had to stamp it out after it landed on a pile of clothing on the floor and caught fire.
Admissions
The court was told Kydd – who continued to kick off at Dundee police HQ – had caused around £2,000 worth of damage to the rented flat in which she had been living for two years.
Solicitor Catriona Clark, defending, said: “She has had issues with alcohol in the past.
“On release from her previous sentence she was in employment for eight years and was settled.”
Kydd, from Dundee, admitted culpably and recklessly endangering lives by setting fire to clothing, blankets and paper at her former home in Newburgh High Street on January 5.
She admitted attacking PC Callum Bawden by throwing a lit cigarette at him, lunging towards him and striking him on the body and assaulting PC Kirstie Haddow by kicking her on the body repeatedly.
Killed lover
In 2006, the High Court in Edinburgh heard how Kydd stabbed 32-year-old John Lofthouse to death when he refused to have sex with her.
The court was told she had donned stockings and lingerie to seduce him after a row, but flew into a rage when he spurned her advances.
Kydd – who claimed her lover had walked into the blade – stabbed him through the heart hours after they had decided to move in together.
She was originally charged with murder but was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
The court heard they had a stormy relationship and argued on the day of the killing about a plan to go to his mum’s home to look after her dogs.
Edgar Prais QC said: “Mr Lofthouse went down to nearby licensed premises to get something to drink and to bring something home.
“When he left Kydd changed into what she tells me was sexy lingerie.
“She had hopes that, with that, she could change the atmosphere.”
Kydd’s plan didn’t work and the row continued.
She went to the kitchen to make herself some cheese and oatcakes and picked up a knife.
Kydd, then of Abernyte, Perthshire, pled guilty to the killing at Mr Lofthouse’s flat in Blackness Road, Dundee.
Judge Lord Kinclaven said the victim’s family had been left devastated by his loss.
