A FIRESTARTER was jailed for destroying a housing association garage in an arson attack the day after he set a skip ablaze.

Leigh Moran, 35, from Pontypool, torched the Melin Homes garage and the skip belonging to Pontypool Waste Disposal on February 1 and February 2.

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court: “The garage was destroyed and the damage cost £6,000.”

Detectives identified Moran as the culprit for the seemingly motiveless crimes after he was captured on CCTV cameras.

The defendant, of Beeches Road, Trevethin pleaded guilty to two counts of arson.

Moran has 18 previous convictions which include offences of attempted burglary, public disorder and criminal damage.

He refused any legal assistance and represented himself.

Although he pleaded guilty he later told a probation officer writing a pre-sentence report that he didn’t do it.

Moran had been in prison since February after being remanded in custody following his arrest.

The judge, Mark Cotter KC, told him: “When you were interviewed by the police you declined the services of a solicitor, saying you wanted to go home.

“You have represented yourself. You are assessed as posing a medium risk of causing serious harm towards the public.

“Your most recent response to supervision is poor and your denial of these offences limits the amounts of useful suggestions that probation can make.”

Recorder Cotter added: “It's difficult therefore to understand why these offences occurred as, despite admitting them, you have subsequently denied them.

“Understandably, a judge dealing with this case at an earlier stage ordered a psychiatric report.

“That report concluded that you had the nature and capacity to understand the nature and purpose of a sentence.

“But you terminated the assessment early so that it was not completed.

“The psychiatrist concluded that you are likely to be mentally disordered in some way, but there is no suggestion that treatment or a hospital order is required and you told him that you had not been in contact with mental health services and this is in agreement with the content of the pre-sentence report.”

Moran was jailed for nine months which means he will be released immediately after already serving more than the equivalent sentence in custody.