Teen arsonist started revenge blaze at Sunderland house after row over bike

Anthony Robinson started four fires on the first floor of a three storey mid-terraced property at Egerton Street, Sunderland last June.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the house had been converted into bedsits and the now 19-year-old had previously been evicted due to his aggressivebehaviour.

Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw told the court Robinson, with other men, got into the building through an insecure window and confronted a tenant in one of the rooms.

Mr Wardlaw said: "The defendant was aggressive and angry and such was the level of his aggression the tenant and his friend ran from the address.

"He contacted the police and on return to his address, with the police, discovered the address had been set on fire."

The court heard there were three seats of fire, where combustible materials, such as carpets and curtains had been set ablaze.

A fourth seat of fire had not properly taken hold.

Mr Wardlaw said nobody else was in the bedsits at the time but added: "The lives of others, in adjoining houses, were endangered."

The court heard a young family lived in the house next door.

When arrested over the blaze, Robinson confessed "I'm going to tell you the truth, I did and you know why, because someone tried to steal a bike."

Robinson said he had used a lighter to spark the flames and laughed as he said "set his ******* house alight".