GRANDFATHER SET FIRE TO HIS HOME WHILE HIS YOUNG GRAND CHILDREN WERE INSIDE

Brain Pickering, 63, from Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough, set fire to his home while five of his relatives were inside

A grandad set fire to his home while his young grandchildren were inside because his wife threatened to go on holiday without him.

Brian Pickering, 64, from Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough, deliberately started two fires in September last year while five of his relatives were inside the semi-detached property. 

The court heard the arson attack had been a half-hearted suicide attempt by Pickering, who was furious after his wife Margaret threatened to go away without him.

It was only through 'good chance' that none of his family died in the blaze, the court was told.

Pickering, who suffered burns in the fire, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether lives were endangered.

He was jailed for six years and three months during a sentencing hearing at Teesside Crown Court. 

Prosecutor Rachel Masters told the court that Mrs Pickering had been downstairs with their two grandchildren, aged three and five, when her husband deliberately started the fires in their bedroom. 

At the time, his son Brian junior and his partner Donna Whithead were in bed in the next room.

The court heard Mrs Pickering heard a series of bangs and went upstairs, where she saw the bedroom was full of smoke.

She and Miss Whithead then ran downstairs to get the children out of the house.

Pickering jumped out of the window to escape the fire, before telling his wife: 'I told you years ago that I would never let you leave me'. He was then taken to hospital for treatment.

After the incident, Mrs Pickering made a 26-page statement saying that her husband would never harm the grandchildren.

The court heard she had struggled to cope with Pickering's behaviour since he quit his job and she believed the arson attack was a suicide attempt which went wrong.

Graham Silvester, defending, told the court that the family were traumatised by the incident and his sons had visited him in prison while he was on remand.

Pickering set the house alight, pictured up, by starting two fires in the room he shared with his wife Margaret, down, after she announced she was going on holiday without him 

During the hearing, they were also in the public gallery supporting him.

Mr Silvester added: 'There was no plan for this. He knows that he has got to spend a period of time in custody. He is ashamed of it.'

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC told Pickering: 'You started fires being reckless whether the lives of five individuals who were close to your were endangered.

'You set about setting fire to the house and there were two seats of fire.

'I accept that at the time you did that you were suffering from a mental illness in the sense that you were suffering from depression.

'You full well knew that that you were doing. I accept you felt that you were in a desperate state, but that does not excuse or justify the measures that were taken.

'It is only by good chance that the lives of those five individuals were saved. Those lives could well have been lost as a result of your actions.'