A repeat arsonist has been jailed after he armed himself with a plastic bottle of petrol and left it at the door of a neighbour to "punish" him for his perceived behaviour. Harold Blades was told he is "dangerous" in the context of the law as he was sentenced to four years in prison for arson being reckless, with a four-year extended term when he is released on licence.
Blades learned his fate over a video link to Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (January 6) after Judge Nirmal Shant, King's Counsel, heard from a psychiatrist the defendant is suffering from a number of personality disorders. After committing a serious offence of arson in March 2012, where he held his wife in a "hostage situation" before starting a fire, Blades had lit the bottle at his neghbour's home in St Ann's last year.
The offence, on May 17, was captured on CCTV and showed Blades in drink, armed with the plastic bottle of petrol and a lighter. He placed the bottle, wearing gloves, in such a way it would, when ignited, set fire to the door with neighbour and his 83-year-old dementia-suffering uncle inside.
