A masked man caught on CCTV as he hurled a petrol bomb at a woman’s Carlisle home has been handed a four-year prison sentence.
The city’s crown court heard how the victim returned to her Well Bank Place property in Denton Holme just minutes before the attempted arson attack at 7pm on June 18.
Her doorbell video camera captured the shocking moment James Ross Heaney appeared to light a bottle he was carrying before throwing it towards the building.
It smashed against a wall but little damage was actually caused. Heaney’s face was masked by a scarf and he also wore a hooded top.
A nearby resident briefly attempted to give chase as 27-year-old Heaney, of Newlaithes Avenue, Carlisle, fled the scene. Heaney was arrested outside his home just minutes after the petrol bomb attack and was noted to by police officers to be sweating.
The court heard how, before the offence, the woman had received a phone call in which Heaney made reference to being around the corner. “Two hours — and I’m being generous — or your house goes up in flames,” he had said.
In an impact statement, the woman spoke about feeling nervous and unsafe in her house, and of being too frightened to sleep there at night. A daughter described the adverse impact on her mother’s mental health.
Heaney — whose dispute was with the daughter — admitted charges of attempted arson with intent to endanger life, threatening to damage or destroy property and sending an offensive or menacing message.
Defence solicitor David Wales, mitigating, said Heaney had suffered from very poor mental health throughout his relatively short life. The offences had arisen as he self-medicated with alcohol and illicit substances to try and numb his difficulties.
The sentencing judge, Recorder Mark Ainsworth, said it was unclear whether the object had been lit before being thrown at the house. But, addressing Mr Wales, he observed of Heaney’s deliberate plan: “It is almost chilling. ‘This is what I’m going to do’ — then he goes and he does it.”
“Thankfully there was no fire that took light,” the judge told Heaney. “But the outcome of this could have been very, very different. It was plainly serious and terrifying for the householder.”
Concluding Heaney was a dangerous offender, the judge ordered him to serve an extended three-year licence period.
- A 10-year restraining order bans Heaney from contacting the woman and her daughter, and prohibits him from entering Carlisle.
