A man endangered the lives of a family of five after driving a stolen car into their property in Fife and setting it on fire.
Michael Reddington caused an explosion when he ignited the vehicle after colliding with a garage attached to the family home.
He was spotted running from the inferno with his hand on fire and later found to have singed his own face.
A judge was shown footage of the incident and told Reddington: “This was cowardly and despicable offending.”
As he jailed Reddington for seven years, Lord Arthurson said it appeared a considerable amount of planning was involved in the crime.
He told Reddington he would have faced a 10-year jail sentence but for his guilty plea.
‘That was a good job then’
Reddington, 38, admitted culpably and recklessly driving a car into the property in Lochgelly, causing damage and then setting fire to the vehicle to the danger of the lives of two adults and three young children on February 8 this year.
The court heard that the day after the crime Reddington was shown a news story about the fire and said: “That was a good job then.
“I done well. The boy shouldn’t have called me a s***bag.”
The family involved cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Shunted burning car away
Advocate depute David Dickson told the High Court in Edinburgh the couple were in bed when they were awakened at about 10.45pm by a loud bang.
They saw a car on fire in the driveway, which appeared to have collided with their garage door.
The father ran outside and tried to tackle the blaze with a garden hose while the rest of the family fled the house.
Mr Dickson said: “The fire continued to develop, to such an extent that it set alight the timber frame of the garage.
“(The father) ran back inside the house and in an effort to move the burning vehicle away from his house he drove his own car through the closed garage door at force and into the burning car.
“In doing so he managed to move the burning vehicle off his driveway.”
Burning car was stolen
A passing motorist saw the burning Vauxhall Insignia and alerted the emergency services.
The burned-out saloon car was found to have recently been reported as stolen.
CCTV footage revealed it was driven at speed towards the house and collided with the garage door.
A male emerged from the driver’s door with a cigarette in his mouth.
He was seen to lift a fuel container and pour petrol inside the vehicle.
The male then appears to remove the cigarette from his mouth and puts it in the vehicle or uses a lighter, causing an immediate explosion in the car resulting in a large fire, said Mr Dickson.
He added: “The male runs away from the vehicle and it can be seen his left hand is on fire.”
Accused injured in fire
Police checked with local petrol stations and found the stolen car was driven onto a garage forecourt 15 minutes before the fire and another man filled the fuel canister.
Officers later traced Reddington and noticed he had recent injuries to both his hands and singed eyebrows and stubble.
Reddington, a prisoner in Perth, denied any involvement in the offence when interviewed by police.
Defence counsel John Brannigan said the unemployed plumber has “deep regret and remorse” for what had occurred.
He said although Reddington has a criminal record it was the first time he has been convicted in the High Court.
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