For a teacher from Longwell Green, April Fool's Day 2018 will be a time to forget.
As a pregnant Abigail Cammish settled down to sleep with her 21-month-old daughter, a "completely out of his head" Connor Blyth was setting fire to her property.
After a panicked evacuation from her home in Turner's Court, with her daughter and husband Andrew, the family fled to safety.
But a fire in her garage destroyed valuable property stored there.
And shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
Yet after all that Mrs Cammish said she didn't want Blythe to go to prison, saying: "I feel quite strongly that I would like him to get some sort of help."
Mercifully, Mrs Cammish has since had a clean bill of health, the court heard.
Blyth, 19, of Lovell Avenue in Oldland Common, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered on April 1 last year, when aged 17, which caused some £17,000 damage.
Due to a backlog in cases it took until August 2 this year for his sentence to be listed at Bristol Crown Court.
Judge Mark Horton was to deal with the case.
He was told Blythe was willing to engage in restorative justice, which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders by meeting victims.
The judge therefore adjourned the case, on a date to be fixed, to explore that possibilty.
He told the court: "Restorative justice is something Mr Blyth will never forget, ever."
James Ward, prosecuting, said Mrs Cammish was in bed with her daughter and her husband was watching the boxing on TV when Mrs Cammish heard four loud bangs around 1am.
She alerted her husband, but returned to bed.
Mr Ward said: "Mrs Cammish heard noises like a wheelie bin moving.
"It was the defendant standing on it to get into their back garden.
"He went into the garage and set the garage on fire."
At 3.15am, with noises growing and her baby crying, Mrs Cammish thought someone was in her home.
By 3.30am the baby settled, but the electricity turned off and there was a loud crash.
Mr Ward said: "They went downstairs, in the dark, and her husband could see fire on the other side of the front door.
"They went into the garden, this poor woman and her husband, when she was pregnant, with a 21-month-old baby and thinking someone was in the house."
With that the family found Blyth by the garage and Mrs Cammish told him: "Please leave us alone, we've got a baby."
They then fled the scene and her husband called 999.
Mr Ward said police found Blyth at the scene with a driving licence he said he had found in the garden.
Mr Ward told the judge: "That resulted in an innocent man being arrested on suspicion of starting the fire."
"To use the vernacular, he was completely out of his head"
Fiona Elder, defending, said: "It was a complete aberration that evening.
"There was a party, he had taken drink and some cocaine.
"He had only tried cocaine on one previous occasion.
"The impact was most dramatic.
"He remembers being at the party.
"He remembers very little after that."
The judge told Miss Elder: "To use the vernacular, he was completely out of his head."
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