A MAN who doused his father in petrol and then burned down his house at Singleton last year was having a mental health episode and suffering from paranoid delusions in the days before the attack.
Sean Lancaster, now 42, pleaded guilty to damaging property by fire, intimidation and assault over the fire at the family home in Castlereagh Street on November 9.
Lancaster had been living on and off with his father, Michael Lancaster, 68, for about seven years and had become increasingly distressed before the incident, repeatedly complaining about voices in his head and claiming people were out to get him.
On November 7, Lancaster confronted his father after breaking the letterbox, demanding to know what he had taken from it.
Later that evening, neighbours told Michael Lancaster his son had accused them of planning to take away his daughter.
The next day, Lancaster continued yelling and accused his father of working with people who wanted to put him in jail.
Police attended after Michael Lancaster called emergency services, but Lancaster appeared calm and left the home.
It was about 4am on the day of the fire when Michael Lancaster found his son inside his home and told him to leave.
He called police again, but by the time they arrived, Lancaster was gone.
A few hours later, Lancaster forced his way inside by kicking through the back door, breaking it in half.
Lancaster went to his bedroom, pulled his bed across the door and stayed in there all day.
At 5pm, Michael Lancaster returned from the shops to find his son in the shed pouring petrol from a drum into a bucket.
He then picked up the bucket, walked towards his father and said: "this is where it gets f---ing real".
He tipped the fuel over his father's head and body, the petrol stinging his eyes.
Holding a lighter behind his father's ear, Lancaster repeated: "this is where it gets f---ing real".
Michael Lancaster told police he was terrified his son was going to set him alight.
He managed to wash the petrol off with a garden hose before leaving the property.
Concerned about ruining his son's participation in a rehabilitation program, he initially did not report what happened to police.
But after returning home about 6.50pm and seeing flames coming from the house, he called triple-zero.
Fire investigators later determined the blaze was deliberately lit, with more than 75 per cent of the property damaged.
Lancaster later approached police and said: "Yeah here you go, here I am."
He told officers he wasn't going to run and said: "I knew what I was f---ing doing."
After his arrest, Lancaster told police he had used ice earlier that day and said he had bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He had been prescribed medication but had not been taking it.
He declined a police interview but participated in a forensic procedure during which he made a series of random comments, including references to having his identity swapped.
Lancaster remains behind bars and will appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a sentence date.
