Father set fire to house while his children and their friends were inside
AFATHER set fire to his house while his children and their friends were inside it, a court has heard.
Philip Jones, 56, committed arson at the three-bed terrace property in Chepstow Road, Cwmparc, Treorchy, on the evening of September 6 last year, causing £15,000 worth of damage.
He made threats to burn down the house and told his children to get out before he set fire to the living room, where the gas meter was located.
His son, his daughter, and his daughter’s partner and two friends managed to escape the property and no-one was injured during the incident.
A sentencing hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court yesterday heard Jones’ actions stemmed from the effects of drug use upon his mental state. In the week leading up to the offence the defendant’s behaviour had become “increasingly strange” according to his daughter, prosecutor Jac Brown said.
On the day in question, his son said Jones was “shouting a lot of angry comments” and was “in a mood”, while his daughter described him as “paranoid” and looking “pale”.
His daughter was upstairs with her partner and two friends when they heard the defendant shouting from downstairs: “You guys better get out. I’m going to set this house on fire right now.”
At first she and her friends were unsure if he was being serious, Mr Brown said, but after Jones repeated the threat they began to leave the property. Meanwhile, his son was still in his room playing on his Xbox when he heard the fire alarm going off, and when he saw smoke outside his bedroom door he thought his sister had left a candle lit.
But she warned him to leave the house, and as he was exiting he saw “a large fire and smoke emanating from the front room”, Mr Brown said.
He shouted for the family’s two dogs but Jones had already got the pets safely out of the house a short time before the fire.
“The fire continued to grow and [it caused] extensive damage to the property, with windows blown out and the uPVC melted,” Mr Brown said.
The living room was damaged the most and there was smoke damage to the ground and first floors, the court heard.
An asset management officer valued the damage at £15,000 and said the duration of the repairs would last eight weeks. “[His son] was angry by the incident and sets out that the situation could’ve been different because he was about to fall asleep at the time. [His daughter] is confused and upset by the incident,” Mr Brown said.
Jones has 18 previous convictions for 35 offences, though none is related to arson.
For this incident he pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
Stephen Thomas, mitigating, said the defendant’s guilty plea was the best mitigation, but also noted that “this sort of behaviour is completely out of character for Mr Jones”.
He added: “It is clear from the reports that his use of drugs has had a big impact on his mental health, his behaviours, and actions over the years.”
The death of Jones’ partner – the mother of his children – had also had a “significant impact” on his mental health, which deteriorated “rapidly” as he increased his cannabis misuse, Mr Thomas said.
Judge Paul Hobson said the case served as a warning for “anyone who thinks that cannabis is not a harmful drug”.
He sentenced the defendant to three years and four months’ imprisonment, half of which he must spend in custody before being released on licence for the remainder.