A woman deliberately set three fires in her own home and then went to lie on her bed because she wanted to die, a court heard. On the evening of July 23, 2022, a man living in Ystrad Drive in Johnstown on the outskirts of Carmarthen was alerted to smoke coming from a neighbouring property in which Laura Magness lived alone.
He ran to the bungalow and could see the front door of the property was melting and there was a fire behind the front door. He was then informed that there was in fact another fire at the rear of the bungalow and could see that Magness appeared to be asleep in one of the bedrooms.
By this point a third neighbour had been alerted and a bedroom window was smashed and Magness, who appeared to be unconscious, was carried out to the safety of the garden although the neighbours expressed continued concern due to the presence of a gas supply. While she was being attended to by neighbours, including the wife of one of them who was a nurse, Magness began to refuse help and was evidently not unconscious. It was at this point that she told neighbours that she “didn’t want to live” and “didn’t want to be saved”, the court heard.
