Man torched his own home because he was fed up with the neighbours

A BEDSIT resident who deliberately torched his home told 999 operators he was fed up with his neighbours.

Arsonist Kyle Petho, 20, who knew the two 18-year-old men were in their rooms, was sent to a young offender’s institution for three years and four months.

Petho set his own bed alight and tried to spark a blaze in a hallway with a row of burning toilet paper rolls, Preston Crown Court was told.

He then rang the emergency services and calmly said: “I’ve set the landing alight so they can’t get out”.

The burned bed of Kyle Petho, 20, of Seven Stars Road, Leyland. He torched his own bedsit and told 999 operators that he did it because he was fed up with his neighbours

Petho admitted causing arson with intent to endanger life at the multiple occupancy house on Seven Stars Road, Leyland.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said Petho contacted the police on August 29 last year at around 11.30pm and confessed to starting the fire.

When the operator asked if the occupants were in bed he replied: “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

He told the operator he would “take whatever punishment is coming my way”.

One of the neighbours, Tyler Overfield, 18, heard the alarm and found the blazing toilet rolls when he opened his door.

He managed to extinguish them and thrown them outside. He and another resident managed to escape the property before fire officers arrived.

Investigations later showed Petho had set fire to his bed and that it had spread across his bedding, causing smoke damage to the bedroom and landing.

Petho was arrested in Wade Hall a short time later after telling police where he was.

After the case John Taylor, spokesperson for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Arson is a crime that can have terrible consequences, threatening lives as well as property.”