Avenging drunken knifeman tried to set flat ablaze
ATHUG armed with a snapped pool cue and kitchen knife tried to set fire to a home in a drunken revenge attack.
Shaun Brownlee wielded the weapons as he broke into a flat block and “hammered” on the door of his target.
He then attempted to set a fire outside the address, failed and returned an hour later only to fail again.
Brownlee was locked up on Friday after Liverpool Crown Court heard of the events of the night of November 8.
Paul Blasberry, detailed how the prosecuting, 36-year-old armed himself before breaking into an apartment building on Stanley Street in Southport.
He then tried to force his way into the home of a man named Thomas Moreland.
Sentencing him, the judge, Recorder Simon Killeen, said: “During the night-time hours, having consumed a vast quantity of alcohol, you pre-armed yourself with a large kitchen knife and with half a pool cue.
“You pre-armed yourself with a petrol canister containing accelerant, clearly intending to use it, and you went round to the address he (Mr Moreland) lived at.
“At the premises there was a communal door and it’s quite clear you smashed the door.”
The dad-of-four started “hammering” on Mr Moreland’s door with his fists but could not gain entry.
Recorder Killeen continued: “You then decided to attempt to set alight part of that building.
“You threw petrol on a windowsill and you lit it. It didn’t catch, causing relatively minor damage.”
Brownlee, of Bath Street in Southport, returned an hour later and tried to start another fire, but did not succeed.
Recorder Killeen slammed the defendant for his recklessness – saying he put others at risk beyond his intended target.
He added: “You had no idea – people who use accelerants on buildings have no real notion of exactly what is going to happen. Fire is not easily controllable.”
Brownlee admitted aggravated burglary, arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, two counts of possession of an offensive weapon and a count of arson.
Paul Becker, defending, said his client’s guilty pleas were his most powerful mitigation.
He said: “In my submission there is little more the defendant could have done to assist.”
Mr Becker added: “There clearly was something that went very badly wrong between the defendant and the victim. The defendant would not have acted in the way he did unless there was a serious falling out.”
The court did not hear the background to the incident.
Recorder Killeen sentenced Brownlee to a total of four years in prison, of which he will serve at least half.