Disturbing footage captures the moment a woman held a naked flame up in front of a Ring doorbell camera before torching a wheelie bin.
Rachael Roche was drunk and high on cocaine when she used a cigarette lighter to set fire to the bin, causing smoke and toxic fumes to fill a house in Netherton, Merseyside.
The occupants John McDonough and his partner Joanne Kenny fortunately weren't home as they had moved out and put their house up for sale following a long running parking dispute, Liverpool Echo reports.
The parking dispute did not directly involve 30-year-old Roche, who was living in the complex to look after her mum Liverpool Crown Court heard.
The 30-year-old said she does not know why she did it.
In footage shared by Merseyside Police, Roche can be seen approaching the doorbell camera before looking around and reaching into her dressing gown.
She then pulls out a lighter which she holds up in front of the camera lens before lighting it and holding up the naked flame.
The footage then captures her walking away from the camera, with Christmas decorations and festive lights visible in the background.
Henry Riding, prosecuting, said Mr McDonough and his partner had lived in a mews development, New Park Court in Bridge Lane, Netherton, for about seven years at the time of the arson on November 22, 2020.
New people moved in during 2018 and about six months before the blaze problems arose over parking issues. On one occasion a group of neighbours, including Roche were abusive towards the couple.
Mr Riding said: “Problems got to the point where they decided to move out and in May 2020 they out their property on the market and were not in residence at the time of the arson."
About 11.10 pm on November 22 the Ring doorbell motion activated camera captured Roche approaching the property and then going out of sight towards the bins kept under the porch.
A few minutes later she returned into view “and took out a cigarette lighter from inside her dressing gown ignited hit and held it up close to the camera …why she did it is only known to her".
By midnight the fire had taken hold in the bin and spread to other bins and the heat cracked downstairs windows and smoke and fumes entered the property. The heat melted drainpipes, said Mr Riding.
Luckily a neighbour in the adjoining house became aware of the fire and rang the fire brigade who extinguished the blaze. Remedial work to the property to put it back suitable for sale cost £5,323, he added.
In an impact statement Mr McDonough, a key worker, said that if he and his partner had been upstairs asleep they could have been trapped and they would also have been in danger from smoke and fumes.
He said: “We feel she has shown no remorse. She tried to burn our home in the middle of the night.”
Mr Parry-Jones said that it was admitted that Roche had been drinking and taking cocaine and her recollections of the incident are “very very vague. She is a troubled young lady.”
Judge Woodhall told the defendant, who appeared via video link from Styal prison, that had the neighbour not called the fire brigade “that fire would inevitably spread and clearly put lives at risk.”
But he accepted she believed Mr McDonough had moved out and she had no intention of harming anyone.
He said: “You are unable to explain why you committed the offence or what you did.”
Jailing her for 27 months Judge Gary Woodhall said: “Only a custodial sentence can be justified.”
He added that even if he had the power to suspend it he would not have done so.
Roche's barrister Trevor Parry-Jones told the court a psychiatrist found she has a borderline personality disorder which is treatable but while on remand for eight months she had not received any treatment.
After sentencing her the judge said: “The court hopes and expects the work identified will now commence and continue when you are released on licence.”
Roche, of Bridge Lane, Netherton, had pleaded guilty to arson being reckless whether life would be endangered.
Don't miss the latest Scottish crime and courts news from the Daily Record. Sign up to our Criminal Record newsletter here .
