An arsonist was starting an eight year jail sentence toda for a blaze in which two people had to be rescued.

Neil Evans stacked rubbish outside the back door of a house in Bocking and set fire to it while a couple were asleep upstairs.

Firefighters had to rescue the couple as a court heard they were trapped by the blaze at the house in Church Lane, Bocking.

The arson attack at the home of Mark Keeble came between two burglaries carried out there by 39-year-old Evans.

Chelmsford Crown Court also heard how Mr Keeble had returned home one evening to find his home filled with smoke after a wooden knife block was put on a cooker before it was switched on.

Prabhjot Virdi, prosecuting, told the court there appeared to have been "some sort of small dispute" between Evans and Mr Keeble.

She said Mr Keeble had returned home on April 20 last year to find his house opposite Braintree College filled with smoke. Some watches and cigars were also missing after someone forced a back door to get in.

Later the same evening, Mr Keeble was in bed but was woken up by the smell of smoke. This time he and a friend had to be rescued after a neighbour alerted firefighters.

Miss Virdi said rubbish bags had been piled up against the back door and set alight. The kitchen was badly damaged, she said.

Mr Keeble's house was burgled again on January 29, but nothing appeared to have been stolen, the court heard.

Police later received a call from Evans saying he wanted to "put his hands up."

He made a full confession to police but denied putting the knife block on the cooker.

Evans, from Queens Road, Braintree, admitted charges of reckless arson and burglary when he appeared in court for sentence.

John Donnelly, mitigating, said Evans and Mr Keeble had been involved in some kind of dispute.

At the time of the offences, Evans had drink and drug problems and his memory of the events was hazy, Mr Donnelly said

Published Tuesday, May 20, 2003

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