AN ALCOHOLIC who tried to set fire to a duvet with a homeless man sleeping underneath it has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Martin O’Brien had already started a blaze at the back door of a hotel shouting "Happy Christmas" as the flames took hold, when he turned his attention to the bedding.

The 42-year-old had downed two litres of vodka and been turned away from a hostel before the fire raising on a bitterly cold winter night.

James Tucker, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the fires were started on Harding Street in the early hours of December 18. O’Brien had gone to Culvery Court that night, but because of his state was refused entry.

Other rough sleepers had been given bedding to keep them warm as they slept rough in nearby shop doorways, he said.

At about 1am a hostel worker heard a commotion and looked out to see flames about 15ft high in a service entrance of the nearby Holiday Inn.

It is thought that a number of cardboard boxes and duvets were set alight, scorching the side of the tower block. She then saw the defendant cross the road to the doorway of cash traders.

“There was another duvet there which she saw Mr O’Brien crouch down and try to set light to with a lighter. She knew it was a lighter as she saw the sparks come from it.”

Mr Tucker said the bedding did not catch fire and the man underneath it was unfazed. Although the fire brigade were called, the fire in the duvets and boxes was virtually out when they arrived.

When questioned he said he started the fires for warmth after not being allowed in to the hostel.

He also said he had contemplated walking into the flames because he was at a low ebb following a recent assault.

O’Brien, of Rogers Close, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Adam Williams, defending, said his client’s actions, though serious and potentially very dangerous, were a combination of self harm and a cry for help.

It was a cold night and he was suffering from depression after a number of incidents in his life and was sorry for what he had done. As well as suffering from diabetes, asthma and coeliac disease, he said his 13-year-old son had also been ill with cancer, though thankfully had recovered.

Jailing him Judge Robert Pawson said “This was a hotel: people were bound to be asleep at that time in the morning. There were potentially disastrous consequences.”