Tenant tried to torch his house in Leeds after being threatened with eviction

Paul Kilbride started a fire in the kitchen of the property in Leeds using his gas cooker on January 26 this year.

Leeds Crown Court heard Kilbride, 45, rented a room in the house in Cross Green and threatened to turn the gas on and blow the building up.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, said the defendant asked the 75-year-old landlord to come over to talk before making the threats.

Mr Galley said the defendant also threatened to stab himself with scissors.

The landlord phoned the police who attended and found the kitchen door blocked.

The defendant told a neighbour he was going to get some petrol and set fire to the hallway.

Firefighters were called and put out the blaze.

Mr Galley said the defendant was arrested and told police he was depressed.

He said : “His intention had been to try to kill himself.”

Kilbride, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Christopher Dunn, mitigating, said: “It is quite clear this was a cry for help at a time when the defendant felt a sense of desperation that was very overwhelming.

“There was minimal damage and in reality there was no real threat to life.”

Kilbride was jailed for 20 months.

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “You put the lives of others in danger.

“I readily accept that you must have been in total despair.”