Woman jailed for arson - after heroes rescued her from York flat fire

On seeing the flames bursting out of the home in Fossway, Morag Crudge rushed a ladder to the scene.

Frederico Maniscalchi climbed up to the first floor bathroom window where Charleen Casey, 37, had managed to open its safety clasp. He got her on his shoulders and brought her down to ground level, York Crown Court heard.

Victoria Hajba-Ward, prosecuting, said the flat’s resident had offered Casey a roof over her head because she was homeless on March 16.

While he was out walking his dog on March 17, she started the fire and he returned to find his home in ruins.

People live in the flats above, below and to the side of the destroyed flat off Malton Road, York.

City of York Council estimates the damage will cost at least £70,000 to repair, said Ms Hajba-Ward.

Describing the actions of Ms Crudge and Mr Manischalchi, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said: “They are to be commended for their public spirited bravery.”

The judge told Casey: “£70,000 the citizens of York are going to have to fork out because of your self-indulgence.

“The emergency services had to be called out. People were distressed by what they saw, all because you got yourself drunk."

He jailed Casey, who has a long record, for two years, after reading psychiatric and probation service reports.

Casey, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered on the basis she hadn’t intended to harm anyone except herself.

Ms Hajba-Ward said the flat’s resident had gone out to walk his dog with a friend at lunchtime, and, with her consent, had locked Casey into the flat.

She had seemed normal when they left.

At 1.30pm a woman and her mother were wallpapering their home in an adjacent street when they heard a huge bang and looking out saw the rear windows of the Fossway flat explode and black smoke pour out.

They called 999 and going to help “they saw a female at the bathroom window trying to get out,” she said.

Ms Crudge was on a ladder painting outside a nearby church and came to help.

Once she was out of the flat, Casey told an eyewitness she was sorry and she had started the fire. She told police she had wanted to kill herself.

Her face was drawn and her behaviour erratic.

A fire service investigation found the blaze had been started deliberately in a mattress.

For Casey, Katherine Robinson said she had mental health issues and she didn’t remember saying she had tried to kill herself.

She had been drinking in the run-up to the fire.

“The woman before the court today is definitely very different to the person who set this fire,” she said. “She has made significant strides to better her situation.” She asked for the sentence to be suspended so that Casey could be supported in the community, but the judge said the offence was too serious.