Two years in prison for Pembroke Dock arson attack man

Dylan Joseph Deacon, aged 19, had admitted arson while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered or property damaged.

Deacon, of Dimond Street, denied a more serious charge of arson intending to endanger life and that plea was accepted.

Deacon asked a judge at Swansea crown court to sentence him on the basis that he had been trying to commit suicide.

But Judge Paul Thomas ruled against him and decided that his real motive was to get back at his landlord, who the day before had served him with a notice to quit.

Judge Thomas said he also found it “very significant” that Deacon had run out of the flat within ten seconds of setting fire to a bed.

In fact, he noted, a friend, Jack Morgan, had spent longer in the burning flat, trying unsuccessfully to put out the flames, than Deacon had.

Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said the blaze effectively gutted the flat, in the middle of a terrace. Neighbours had had to be evacuated and firemen had to use breathing apparatus to bring the flames under control.

One neighbour, Amy Morgan, was alerted by an activated smoke detector and escaped from the building to find Deacon standing in the road watching the fire.

Judge Thomas said he accepted that Deacon had been in a “very low mood” at the time but he did not accept that setting the fire had been a serious attempt at suicide.

“He ran out of the property immediately and that is not in keeping with a suicide attempt.

“There had been three other people in the room at the time and none of them has said anything about suicide being mentioned,” he added.

“The primary reason was a malicious desire to cause damage to the flat. He was motivated by spite against his landlord. There is an element of revenge here.

“This was an extremely dangerous situation both for the people living there and for the fire fighters,” added judge Thomas.

Deacon will serve the sentence in a young offender’s institution.