Man “at the end of his rope” after a lonely holiday takes drastic measures

Two men feared for their lives after a suicide arsonist started a fire in his ground floor flat in Brighouse.

Desperate Lee Shafi, 38, had earlier been seen using a baseball bat to smash the windows of his home in Smith Crescent and shortly after the fire alarm was triggered at the four-flat block.

Bradford Crown Court heard on Friday how fire crews and police attended the premises on January 2 this year, but Shafi refused to leave his flat despite smoke pouring from a window. Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire inside the apartment and he admitted that he wanted to kill himself.

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The fire caused damage to an armchair and the walls of the flat and the total bill for all the damage was estimated at around £2,500.

Recorder Patrick Palmer was told that two other residents, who were at home on the afternoon of the incident, gave statements in which they both said they believed they could have been killed if the fire had started while they were sleeping. Shafi, who had a history of mental health problems and drug and alcohol addiction, pleaded guilty to a charge of arson with reckless disregard for whether life would be endangered.

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He appeared before the judge today via video link from prison and the court heard he had been remanded in custody since early January. Barrister Jeremy Barton, for Shafi, said his client had been diagnosed with PTSD and had made progress with his drug and alcohol problems while on remand.

He described Shafi as “at the end of the rope” at the time of the offense and said the defendant did not intend to put other people’s lives at risk.

Recorder Palmer noted that after the fire, Shafi told police it had been a desperate time for him and he had spent Christmas alone with no support from family or friends. The judge said Shafi’s time in custody appeared to have been beneficial and he was able to suspend his 24-month prison sentence for the next two years.

Shafi will have to do 200 hours of unpaid community work, take part in 25 days of rehabilitation activity and comply with an alcohol abstinence monitoring label for the next 120 days.

Recorder Palmer said the unpaid work was a form of punishment, but it was hoped that by doing it Shafi would meet other people outside of his own “isolated existence”.