A CARE home resident with a “fetish for burning rubber and plastic” set fire to a staff member's car at a York school.

The owner got into the car at All Saints RC School without realising what Peter Guyler, 69, had done, said Melanie Ibbotson, prosecuting at York Magistrates' Court.

The driver was about to start its engine, but was alerted by a fellow member of staff that one of its tyres was on fire.

York magistrates said staff at the care home where Guyler now lives had since imposed restrictions on the arsonist that amounted to keeping him locked up.

The court heard that the security measures used to prevent him from carrying out further fires included 24-hour supervision and never allowing him access to anything that could be used to start a fire.

They also heard that he could not leave the home without a staff member accompanying him at all times.

Craig Robertson, for Guyler, said he had psychiatric difficulties for which he is getting help.

“He has a fetish for burning rubber and plastic,” said the defence solicitor.

Ms Ibbotson said Guyler was captured on CCTV crouching by the car in the school’s car park during the February half term before leaving.

The driver managed to stamp out the flames and had the tyre replaced at a cost of £56.

Guyler, now of a residential care home in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to arson.

He was supervised for his journey to the court and in the courthouse.

Magistrates gave Guyler a two-year conditional discharge.

They said the measures taken by his current care home were “in many respects the equivalent of being held in custody”.

Guyler was also ordered to pay prosecution costs and a £20 statutory surcharge.

At the time of the offence he was living in a care home in York.