Spree brings jail

A firebug will spend 22 months behind bars after setting rubbish bins alight across Wellington during a drunken spree in October last year. Robert Mackie was sentenced in the Wellington District Court yesterday after previously pleading guilty to one charge of arson and one of unlawfully entering a building. After lighting the fires, Mackie entered a Mt Victoria flat occupied by three women and helped himself to beans from a pot on the stove. The women barricaded themselves in a room and called police, who found Mackie hiding in a wardrobe. Judge Peter Hobbs said it was fortunate the damage was limited to the bins.