A man set fire to his ex-partner’s house because she would not lend him £3 for a flagon of cider.
Michael Kerr, 41, of Milton Place, Graig-Y-Rhacca, set fire to the bedroom of the house on May 5 this year and pleaded guilty to arson at the earliest opportunity.
A fire report said there was significant and costly damage to the bedroom, but the fire was contained to one room.
Kerr was sentenced to two years in prison at Cardiff Crown Court on June 27 and told he would serve one year before being released on conditional licence.
The court heard how Kerr knew the house was vacant but the terrace next door was occupied by a mother and her two children.
Prosecutor John Warren said Kerr was refused the money to buy cider in the morning but made phone calls to his ex-partner of 18 years and her daughter in the afternoon while they were on a day trip in Porthcawl.
In one exchange with the daughter he said: “You’re treating me like a mug, I do everything for your mother and she won’t even lend me £3.”
Kerr lit a fire in the bedroom of the house, on Keble Court, at around 4pm, after an altercation with a neighbour who had to bite his hand to get her lighter off him when he told her what he was about to do.
He told two neighbours he had started a fire, one of whom entered the house in an attempt to put it out, before calling his mother to explain what he had done.
Kerr was arrested while on the way to the police station with his mother to turn himself in.
A psychiatric report revealed Kerr has a history of alcoholism and the court heard at most times in his life he had dealt with this well but relapsed after splitting with his partner in November 2013.
Laurence Jones, defending, said Kerr had previously undertaken charity work and argued the sentence should take into account his remorse and state of mind.
Mr Jones said: “He was so intoxicated that frankly he did things he would not attempt to have done and was remorseful as soon as he did it.
“He is now suffering in his own mind for what he did on that day.
“When he has been successful in battling addiction he has been a positive member of society.”
Mr Jones also passed a letter written by the defendant to the judge which was not made available to the court.
Sentencing Kerr, Justice Crowther, said: “You had a terrible early life and a very early turn to alcohol which led to alcoholism.
“It’s a very happy consequence in this case that the damage (from the fire) wasn’t greater.”
Justice Crowther took into account his remorse, the years he had spent sober, dealing “admirably” with his alcoholism and his early guilty plea before passing sentence.
Kerr was also given a five year restraining order.