JAILED: Arsonist put burning paper through letter box
A 22-year-old man who pushed a burning newspaper through the letter box of a neighbour has been locked up for more than two years.
The attack came after Sean Garrington protested to the council about the noise Dillon Lashley made ‘shouting and smashing up’ the flat below his, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
There were suspicions, but no evidence, the defendant might have caused damage to a door and gate at the other man’s flat in Montgomery Crescent, Brierley Hill.
Soon after arriving home on August 27 last year Mr Garrington heard banging on his front door and a voice he recognised as that of Lashley shout, ‘I will kill you’, said Mr Geoffrey Dann, prosecuting.
When he was satisfied the defendant had gone back to his own flat he checked for more damage outside his home but could only find a small crack in a glass panel.
He was still awake at around 1.30am when the metal letter box rattled and the same voice declared, ‘I will get rid of you’, continued the prosecutor, who added: “This time the injured party found a burning newspaper sticking through the letter box which he quickly put out.”
Mr Garrington said afterwards: “If I had fallen asleep it could have spread to the hallway, which was my only means of escape. I am stressed out constantly thinking, ‘what’s next?’.”
The fingerprints of the defendant, who initially denied responsibility, were found on the remains of the paper, the court was told.
Miss Samantha Powis, defending, said: “He is a young man with difficulties. Things are not always as straight forward to him as they are to others.
“It is clear he wanted to draw attention to what he was doing by the noise he made. As far as he was concerned the paper might have been smoking but the fire was out.”
Lashley, now of Himley Road, Dudley, pleaded guilty to arson while reckless as to whether life was endangered, and was jailed for two years four months.
