A MAN has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail after setting fire to his own house in what police described as a ‘reckless and dangerous’ act.
Marcus Rahilly, 51, of Green Terrace, Trefor, Wales, started the blaze at the mid-terrace house last October before leaving the property.
Emergency services managed to bring the fire under control after being alerted by a neighbour who heard a fire alarm.
“This was a reckless and dangerous incident in which a deliberate fire was set in a mid-terraced house,” said Detective Sergeant Jamie Atkinson of North Wales Police.
Alarm
Shortly after 3am on October 11, 2023, emergency services were called to the house fire on Green Terrace in Trefor.
Rahilly, who was the tenant at the housing association property, had set fire to clothing in a bedroom before leaving the building.
Less than two minutes later, the fire alarm started sounding.
A neighbour heard the alarm and went inside where she discovered the spreading fire.
She quickly alerted the fire service who were able to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading through the whole terrace of houses, protecting other residents who lived there.
‘Courageous’
Rahilly, who has 40 previous convictions for 105 offences, was found guilty of arson with intent to endanger life and was sentenced at Mold Crown Court this week.
“It was only due to the courageous and quick actions of a nearby resident that no one was harmed,” added DS Atkinson.
“If the fire had been left longer, there would have been much more serious consequences.”