A Fife man who endangered the lives of his ex-partner and her young child by setting fire to the entrance of her home with them still inside has been jailed for three years.
Derek Lewis (21), described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted wilfully setting ablaze the carpet and rubbish at the front door of the upstairs flat in Anstruther on April 8, in the knowledge that his girlfriend and her six-month-old child were inside, to the danger of their lives.
Lewis, who was drunk, also admits responsibility for wilfully setting fire to the buzzer entry system at the block, damaging it.
No-one was hurt, but investigators later suggested many more lives could have been put in jeopardy if the blaze had gone on.
Condemning Lewis for his actions, Sheriff Charles Macnair revealed the 21-year-old had avoided jail for another offence the day before he started the fire, having been given community service as a direct alternative to custody on that occasion.
He told Lewis, “This was an offence of the greatest seriousness and you are probably fortunate that you weren’t on more serious charges in the High Court.
“It was committed almost immediately after you were given a lenient and compassionate sentence by this court, not by me, which was designed to help you.
“Instead of taking the benefit of that sentence, you went out and committed this extremely serious offence which was not just setting a fire, which was bad enough, but you first of all made the buzzer system unworkable which was one of the few ways in which your former partner could seek assistance.”
He added, “It was extremely fortunate that no-one suffered any serious harm during this incident.
“I’m told that you can remember very little about it because of the amount of alcohol you had but I have difficulty with that sort of explanation in a case such as this where there appears to have been some planning involved.
“Even if I accept that, then that is still absolutely no excuse for what you did.”‘Genuinely remorseful’The court had previously heard how Lewis had gone to the house in the early hours of the morning, after drinking heavily the previous day, and repeatedly pressed his ex-partner’s buzzer.
She told Lewis to go away and went to run a bath for her child.
However, Lewis used a lighter to set fire to the corner of a doormat and carpet which had been at the entrance to the property.
Lewis claimed he had thought twice about what he was doing and stamped out the fire before walking out of the close, but the fire took hold and left his former partner and her child effectively trapped.
Lewis added that he believed someone would have seen the fire and would have extinguished it by pouring water over it, although he couldn’t give a reason why he had set it.
Fortunately, the woman and child were able to escape after they shouted out of a window for help and the emergency services were called.
Lewis’s solicitor Alan Davie said his client’s recollection of events had been “somewhat cloudy” but said Lewis appeared “genuinely remorseful” for what he had done.
He added that Lewis was ashamed of himself, particularly because of the danger he had put his ex-partner and her child in, and revealed they had visited him in prison on a number of occasions since.
Mr Davie said. “While it doesn’t take away the seriousness of the offence, there is perhaps an indication she is to some extent willing to forgive his actions.”
Mr Davie said alcohol had been an almost “constant feature” of Lewis’s life and, while that didn’t mitigate what he had done, his court appearances have apparently brought a “shift in thinking” on his alcohol use.
In addition to the three-year jail term passed down by Sheriff Macnair in relation to the fire-raising, Lewis was sentenced to four months in prison for other offences including vandalism, theft and possession of a knife in a public place.
Sheriff Macnair also ordered Lewis to be supervised for a year after his release from prison.