A LODGER tried to burn down his landlady’s home in an argument over money, causing £20,000 of damage.

Daniel Pullman, 20, was jailed for four years after he admitted starting the fire in a terraced house in Mitchell Way, Clifton Moor, York.

It took four fire crews two hours to put out the blaze, which happened shortly after a first-birthday party was being held next door, said Chris Smith, prosecuting.

Fire officer Alan Bell said it was impossible to “over-estimate” how dangerous the fire had been to everyone in the neighbourhood, including firefighters.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told Pullman: “What you did was deliberate, stupid and foolish. There was no excuse for what you did.”

Pullman, of Oldman Court, Foxwood, York, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. No-one was injured in the blaze.

Mr Smith said the landlady had taken Pullman in when he had had difficulty finding accommodation and he paid her for food and electricity.

On September 4, after both had been drinking all afternoon with two friends, they argued over money.

Pullman threatened to “smash the house up” and took a television out in the garden. The landlady locked him out, but later left with friends for Tesco’s Clifton Moor store.

Pullman followed her and they argued again.

He then returned to the house where he told his landlady’s relatives: “I will set fire to it now.”

They did not believe him and left, but shortly afterwards neighbours noticed smoke coming from the upstairs storey as they tidied up their party. They called the fire brigade.

Pullman started the blaze by lighting a duvet on the landlady’s bed.

For Pullman, Glenn Parsons said the arson was a one-off “malicious” act at a time when the arsonist knew there was nobody in the house.

Pullman believed, wrongly, said Mr Parsons that the landlady would return within minutes and see the blaze before it got too big.