POLICE DRAGGED DRUNKEN ‘25ST’ ARSONIST OUT OF BURNING HOUSE
Dad-of-seven Tasered as he sat with knife
POLICE were forced to Taser a drunken dad-of-seven and then drag his 25-stone frame out of a burning home – after he deliberately set it on fire.
‘Selfish bully’ Duncan Milner had downed a litre of whisky before setting items inside his Weston Coyney semi alight.
The 58-year-old then sent a text to his wife asking her to tell their neighbour to get everybody out of her house. When police forced entry to his home, he was sat in a chair holding a knife.
Milner ignored requests to drop the weapon and was tasered before officers pulled him out of the smoke-filled property.
Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard the house was not insured and Milner’s wife and family were homeless for months before they were eventually rehoused.
Now Milner, who has been in custody since the arson, has been jailed for three years.
Prosecutor Nick Tatlow said Milner was with his wife for 32 years but they argued at their home in Park Hall Avenue on June 4.
He demanded she pack his bags and he left but he returned and told her to take off her glasses before slapping her three times.
She said she was going to leave and he told her off because of ‘her attitude’. The next day he started throwing boxes around and his wife and children left the house.
Mr Tatlow said: “She received a call from her son. The defendant had called him to say he had drunk a bottle of whisky and was going to set the house on fire.”
His wife was then told to text the neighbour who called police.
Police arrived and forced open Milner’s door. Mr Tatlow said: “The defendant had a 12 inch knife with the blade pointing upwards. He was clearly drunk. He ignored pleas to put the knife down. Police deployed a Taser, causing him to drop the knife. He was verbally aggressive to the police and had to be dragged out by his arms and legs. That was difficult because he weighed around 25 stone.”
Firefighters entered the house and extinguished the flames.
Mr Tatlow added: “Fire investigators concluded it was a deliberate act of fire setting.
“Three police were put at risk as they rescued the defendant.”
Milner told police he could not remember doing it as he was drunk. But he accepted he must have done it and expressed sorrow.
In a victim statement Mrs Milner said she was left homeless and without possessions. She added: “I feel like an emotional wreck.”
Milner, formerly of Park Hall Avenue, Weston Coyney, pleaded guilty to assault and arson.
James Coutts, mitigating, said there was a downturn in his client’s mental wellbeing. He said
Milner recognises he put too much responsibility on his wife.
Mr Coutts said: “This is not a malicious case.
“It was a cry for help – the wrong type of cry for help.
“When he is released from this sentence he will be a very isolated and lonely individual.”
Judge Paul Glenn described the assault as a ‘nasty piece of bullying’. He told Milner: “You are a selfish individual. You endangered the lives of a number of people.”