Student teacher, 20, who tried to set fire to his ex-girlfriend’s home by pushing blazing wheelie bin up against her front door
Conor Egan 20
A student teacher who tried to set fire to his ex-girlfriends home in a bizarre bid to win her back has been jailed for six years.
Conor Egan, 20, pushed flaming wheelie bins against the front door of Phoebe Alton’s student house in the hope it would scare her into getting back together with him.
Chester Crown Court heard the couple’s relationship had broken down during their time at university – but Egan was keen on rekindling the romance.
He started fires at her property on Lorne Street in Chester’s Garden Quarter on two separate occasions last May in a bid to ‘gain her affections.’
He hoped she would seek comfort with him not knowing he was the one responsible for the blazes.
On Monday Egan, of Beverley, East
Sentencing, Judge Steven Everett said the case must be dealt with ‘extremely severely’ as arson could easily lead to death.
He told Egan: ‘This could have caused so much devastation to property as well, of course, as the real risk of life being lost.
‘Fire is such a difficult thing to control once it takes hold and that is why sentences for arson are substantial.
‘It gives me no pleasure to see a young man throw his life away as you have.
