Shrewsbury teenager locked up for starting fire at house
Friday 24th June 2011, 11:26PM BST.
A Shropshire teenager was locked up today after admitting starting a fire in a house while a 22-month-old baby slept upstairs.
Matthew Gill, 19, of Reedham Road in Herongate, Shrewsbury, went to a neighbour’s house after a disagreement and started a fire in his porch, Stafford Crown Court heard.
Gill was caught by police after the attack last December when footprints were traced in the snow back to his front door.
Gill was also sentenced for a hoax call to Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service which he said he committed “simply to see how fast the fire brigade would respond”.
Gill had pleaded guilty to arson and giving a false alarm to the fire service.
He was sentenced to four years at a young offenders institution for the arson attack and ordered to serve three months for the hoax call and three months for breaking a previous court order, all to run concurrently.
Mr Mark Sharman, defending, said Gill had a problem with alcohol.
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