Jilted boyfriend put flaming can of deodorant in his ex’s letterbox

JAIL FOR MAN WHO ADMITTED HARASSMENT AND ARSON

A DUMPED boyfriend posted a flaming deodorant can through his ex-girlfriend’s door late at night and then ran off.

Arsonist Samuel Phillips, 30, had been living at Towles Mill in Queen’s Road, Loughborough, where he had met the woman.

The relationship ended on December 27 last year and he was arrested by police after a reported assault.

While the assault allegation did not result in a prosecution, he was evicted from the building, which is a home for vulnerable and homeless people.

When released by police he was given bail conditions forbidding him from going back to Towles Mill or from contacting his ex-girlfriend.

But he returned on several occasions over the next week, asking another resident to tell her he still loved her and on one occasion, banging on her door and threatening her while she hid inside, with another resident hearing him shouting, “I’m going to kill you”.

He also threatened to “burn the house down”, sent her Facebook messages and left voicemails saying he would kill her.

Phillips went to the front door of the residential block in the early hours of January 9, punctured a deodorant can, set it alight and rammed it into the letterbox. The can got stuck in the letterbox and did not drop on to the carpet and was only found later that morning by another resident.

But CCTV footage showed the can had been spitting out flames for more than a minute while stuck in the letterbox.

The footage was played at Leicester Crown Court, where Phillips pleaded guilty to reckless arson and harassment.

His convictions for 58 previous crimes included two knife possession offences, robbery and GBH.

Judge Philip Head said: “Mercifully the can got stuck. Had the can dropped on to the carpet there was a high probability of that catching and it’s likely it would have spread through the building.”

Caroline Sellars, representing Phillips, said all his offending was related to drink and he was “not in a right state of mind” at the time.

She added: “Psychiatric medication would be of benefit here.”

Judge Head handed Phillips an extended licence sentence of eight years and five months - and he will be considered for release only twothirds of the way into that, rather than the normal half-way.

There is also an extended licence period, meaning that after the sentence is over he will stay on licence for another 43 months.

Had the can dropped there was a high probability of that catching and it’s likely it would have spread through the building. Judge