AN arsonist who set fire to his flat in a communal block because he felt sorry for himself after his pregnant girlfriend left him was jailed.

Dewi Davey put the lives of his neighbours at risk when he started a blaze behind his front door and left his apartment.

Tony Trigg, prosecuting, said: “The defendant had been at the property for about 12 months.

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“He was living there with his girlfriend who was pregnant with his baby but the relationship had broken down because of his drinking.

“She left him a week before this incident. He was sending her 20 text messages and making about 10 phone calls a day.

“He wanted to patch things up but she was determined that it was over.”

Mr Trigg said Davey attended a meeting to address his alcohol problem but returned home on August 7, 2018 “unhappy with the support he was being offered”.

The prosecutor said the defendant started the fire at 2pm when all the flats were occupied to “attract attention and help”.

Mr Trigg told Cardiff Crown Court: “He lit a Yankee Candle and set it on the floor behind the front door and left the flat.

“The defendant had no regard for the people upstairs and next door.

“The blaze caused extensive damage after the fire took hold. The next door neighbour went out and saw smoke billowing through the windows of his flat.

“She then alerted the people upstairs and they feared for the defendant’s safety. The fire service was called.

“At some point, he called his estranged girlfriend to tell her the flat had caught fire.”

A police investigation was launched when it became clear that the blaze at the Caerphilly council flat was suspicious.

The fire caused more than £10,000 worth of damage.

After initially denying his involvement, Davey later walked into a police station to confess what he had done.

The defendant, aged 40, now of Garden Street, Llanbradach, admitted arson reckless as to whether life was endangered at Gwaun Newydd in Caerphilly.

Mr Trigg said Davey had no previous convictions.

Kevin Seal, mitigating, said the defendant had sought help for his drink problem and had been “desperate to get his relationship back on a decent footing”.

Judge David Wynn Morgan told Davey: “You were feeling very sorry for yourself and you left a candle near the front door of your premises.

“This was extremely reckless and you put the lives of several other human beings at risk.”

The judge said that had the defendant been dealt with immediately, his prison sentence would have been 16 months after his guilty plea at the very first opportunity.

But because of the long delay in the case coming to court, he reduced Davey’s jail term to 10 months.

The defendant was also ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge upon his release from custody.