AN arsonist was hallucinating from a "toxic cocktail" of drugs and alcohol when he started a fire in his flat which left a recovering cancer patient without a home for at least 12 days.
Ajaz Ahmed, 52, of Heath Road in BD3, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered at Bradford Crown Court on Friday.
Ahmed was also handed a one-month concurrent jail sentence for assaulting an emergency worker – police officer – at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) on the same day of the arson when he threw a water bottle at her.
West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (WYFRS) was called to a three-storey terraced house in Heath Road at 12.58am on March 8.
Watch Commander Mark Collingwood described the fire at the time as “quite intense” but that nobody was injured.
Ahmed, who was living in the bottom flat, had taken a significant amount of painkillers and had some cannabis and alcohol before igniting the blaze – described by his defence lawyer, Shufqat Khan, as a “toxic cocktail”.
The judge said: “In the day or so leading up to the offence you had been displaying some bizarre behaviour and looking at the psychiatric report you were probably hallucinating or having some kind of intrusive thoughts at the time.
“You’d taken a great deal of medicine and drugs, as well as alcohol on the day and you were, as Mr Khan has put it, at rock bottom and contemplating suicide.”
Ahmed started two fires on sofas in his living room which led to plaster falling off the walls and ceiling.
The fire spread through the walls to neighbouring property where a family lived and caused extensive damage to the house.
They managed to escape the building and injury but a woman who was just recovering from cancer was displaced for at least 12 days.
The property Ahmed was in had just undergone renovations, with an estimated cost of £10,000 to £15,000 per room.
Ahmed has suffered with alcoholism for around two decades and had destroyed his marriage and family relations.
Mr Khan said Ahmed has since demonstrated that he is taking steps to tackle his addiction which is ultimately the reason for his offending.
In mitigation, Mr Khan said Ahmed has no relevant previous convictions.
The judge sentenced Ahmed to 40 months in jail.
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