Drunk man who set fire to wheelie bin told 'prisoners would eat you for breakfast'

A Nottingham judge told an arsonist “the prisoners will eat you for breakfast” as he spared him a jail term for starting a fire which could have set his rented home alight. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Matthew Wallett’s neighbour said to him “what are you doing? You are going to set the house alight” as he wheeled a burning bin towards his property.

The 34-year-old, who had been drinking, then turned around and laughed before the fire service arrived and extinguished the flames before too much damage was done. Handing him a two-year community order, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said: “You have difficulties in your life and your mental health is not of your making. But by drinking to excess, you don’t make things better.

“People think drinking does not matter as much as drugs but when your drinking is out of control you firstly put yourself at risk of being used by other people and secondly do risky things and you did on this day. There was no justification at all and there was no sense in doing what you did.

“The risks should have been apparent to you but because you had been drinking I don’t believe they were. You only have to think for one moment that if the wind had been blowing in the wrong direction then the house could have caught fire and given its location then other properties were at risk as well.

“If that would have happened, you would have been looking at going to prison and if you think life in the community is difficult for someone like you life in prison would be absolutely impossible. The other prisoners would take one look at you and eat you for breakfast.”

Lauren Fisher, prosecuting, said the blaze took hold in the garden of the defendant’s rented property in Mansfield Woodhouse on July 2, this year. She said a neighbour saw Wallett go outside holding two pillows which he set alight and then placed in a bin which he wheeled towards his home.

The prosecutor said: “She said to him ‘what are you doing? You are going to set the house alight,” and he replied ‘it’s okay, it’s all under control’ before stepping back and laughing. She called 999 and the fire service arrived and when they did, said it was obvious Mr Wallett was under the influence of something when he had set fire to the bin. “

The defendant, of Manor Road, pleaded guilty to arson and has five previous convictions for seven offences. Matt Hayes, his barrister, said: “This is clearly a vulnerable person who needs support for his substance misuse which hopefully he will get with the sentence. Hopefully he will start to open up a bit more (about his mental health problems) as the order will be there to help him.”

As part of the community order, the judge ordered the defendant to attend a 31-day programme and 20 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service.