Desperate drug addict tried to torch Leeds flat after igniting doormat stuffed through a letterbox

Ashley Sollitt wrapped the mat in a duvet and then stuffed it into the letterbox of the flat on Burnsall Gardens in Armley on 26 November last year, before holding a lighter to it.

The emergency services were called after residents could smell burning and heard Sollitt making threats. When police arrested him he had three lighters on him, one of which was “hot to the touch”, prosecutor John Hobley told Leeds Crown Court.

The fire had caused only minor damage. Sollitt, of Highthorne Grove, Armley, later told police the occupant had locked him out of the flat, and would not give him his money and phone back, stemming from a heroin deal. He later admitted a charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. He has no previous convictions as an adult, and was last in trouble in 2005 as a youth.

He appeared in court via video link from HMP Nottingham where he was being held on remand. Mitigating on his behalf, Stuart Field said Sollitt was a drug addict.

He said: “We all know too well how drug addiction drives those afflicted by it. He behaved in the most reprehensible way. It was very much a half-baked attempt. This is his first taste of custody and you won’t be surprised to learn it has not been very pleasant. The likelihood of him re-offending is very low indeed.”

Judge Tahir Khan KC described the arson as a “ham-fisted” attempt to “get back at another resident”. He added: “It all stemmed from the purchase of heroin and you feeling you had been double-crossed.

"If the fire had taken hold you may have faced a sentence of many years. It was, after all, a high-rise block of flats. But I can’t punish you for what might have happened, only what did happen.”

He gave Sorritt two years’ jail, suspended for two years, 25 rehabilitation days and a nine-month drug rehabilitation requirement.