A PROSTITUTE arrested for killing her friend by burning his house down told police she was 'going to hunt all coppers down if she goes to prison', a court heard today.

Patricia Hindle, 30, was detained in notorious Manchester Road just hours after allegedly setting light to Michael Redpath's home in Albion Street while he was in his bedroom.

When officers arrested her for burning down the property, she accused them of "setting her up" and added: "If I had done something wrong I wouldn't be working the beat, would I?"

When she was taken to Gablecross Police Station, she was held in an overnight cell and told an officer: "I wish you would tell me I could go home now and that the joke is over."

Two Wiltshire Police officers gave evidence at Winchester Crown Court, where Hindle stands trial for allegedly murdering friend Mr Redpath, 62, by torching the house and locking the door behind her.

PC Matthew Dickens and PC Emily Grigor were on patrol when they spotted prostitute Hindle in Manchester Street at around 10pm, less than two hours after Mr Redpath's home was set alight.

They approached "calm" Hindle and spoke to her then received information through their police radio that the Albion Street home had been burned down.

The officers arrested her on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and she became agitated.

Hindle, from Crombey Street, told them she didn't know what arson was, adding: "I don't understand arson, what is arson?

"You're setting me up, if I had done something wrong I wouldn't be out working the beat, would I?"

While on their way to the police station, officers received information that Mr Redpath had died in the blaze, causing Hindle to "sob and become hysterical."

Hindle was re-arrested on suspicion of murder inside the car and started rocking back and forward in a fit of distress - she was then taken into custody at Gablecross station.

During cross-examination in court, PC Dickens said: "We arrested her on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, she turned defensive at this point.

"She said 'I locked him in, he asked me to lock him in.' She was panicking after that and talking very quickly and became hysterical.

"When she was put in the vehicle she was talking incoherently.

"She said 'I left him in the bedroom, I locked the door and left. I left him awake I promise, he was walking up the stairs when I left him.'"

PC Grigor said: "When PC Dickens initially cautioned her she said 'what are you on about? what have I done?'

"When we arrested her on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life she got more agitated, she said 'I don't understand arson, what is arson?

"'You're setting me up, if I had done something wrong I wouldn't be out working the beat, would I?'

"When she was arrested on suspicion of murder she became completely hysterical and kept rocking back and forward in the car. In the police station she kept trying to smack herself with her hands."

PC Leila Hastings, who was by Hindle's cell that night, told the court: "At 23:57 I noted Hindle said 'I would love to know what I was supposed to have done.'

"I noted her saying 'If I go to prison I'll hunt all the coppers down.'

"'Do you know how bad I feel? I told him to go to bed when he wanted to sleep on the sofa. I know he would have shouted my name, I know he would of tried to look for me in the house.'

"'I can't go to prison, I've got enough sh** going on in my head. I'm going to a mental prison, I'm not well - murder, what the hell?!'

"'I wish you would tell me I could go home now and that the joke is over. I don't care I haven't done nothing.

"'I don't understand how they [police] knew to come for me, how they knew my name. I'm getting done for something I haven't even done.'"

A neighbour of Hindle's revealed in court how she came to confess to him after torching Mr Redpath's home.

Keith Clark said: "I live in a first floor flat, Patricia lived beneath me on the ground floor.

"I looked out my window and I saw Patricia downstairs banging at the door and I went downstairs because she was banging loud, there was something wrong about it.

"She was very upset, as she got in the door fire engines went by and she said 'they're for me'.

"I asked her what had happened and she told me 'I've killed him, I've burned him, I've set fire to his house'.

"I knew she had a problem with drugs so I thought she was talking rubbish and I didn't know what to believe.

"I asked her 'what's wrong?' and she said 'I've killed him' and she wouldn't say who she had killed. She said 'I've set fire to him, I've killed him, what have I done?'

"I didn't know who she was talking about. She said that she had his credit card and his key. She said he had tried to or did rape her.

"She kept repeating 'what do I do?' and kept saying 'what have I done?' She was hysterical at the time."

One witness who lives opposite Mr Redpath's home saw a woman arguing with him just hours before his house was burned down.

Prosecutor William Mousley QC has told the court Hindle, who denies murder, was friends with unemployed alcoholic Mr Redpath for just a few weeks before she torched his home.

Mr Redpath would "often have girls round" and met Hindle, a drug addict who regularly used crack cocaine, through a mutual friend.

On the evening of the fire, shortly before the house was burned down, neighbours heard and saw a woman outside Mr Redpath's home shouting for him.

Shortly after the "commotion" outside, both were inside and an argument broke out between them before the fire started.

The trial continues.