A blind stalker let gas leak into his flat for five days before blowing up his block and causing £100,000 worth of damage.
Christopher Jones, 42, was distraught about being dumped when he tried to kill himself at his home in Dundee’s Park Avenue on April 19.
Perth Sheriff Court was told on Friday that Jones was registered blind and as his sight worsened last year he had found it increasingly difficult to cope with life .
In July last year, he broke into the Jet garage in Perth and stole cigarettes and £325 in cash.
Despite being blind, he had clambered over a barbed wire fence to gain entry before smashing his way into the garage.
In December, Jones started a relationship with Wendy Thomson but within a matter of weeks she had ended it.
Jones made numerous phone calls, sent unwanted letters and asked Ms Thomson to come to his home.
He repeatedly sent flowers and tied a “tarpaulin hammock” to her car which said: “I love you Wendy.”
Fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie said gas engineers had been called to his home several times after neighbours reported leaks and on one occasion they saw a dead dog in Jones’s bedroom.
No leaks were found but Jones deliberately disconnected the gas from the mains.
“There was an explosion and smoke could be seen. All the residents were evacuated,” said Miss Gillespie. “The accused was topless, wearing jeans and covered in soot.
“He had burns to his face, hands and neck. He said he had been sitting on the toilet when he lit a cigarette and the flat exploded.”
She said an investigation discovered a fire had been started deliberately in the bedroom but that Jones was not in the room when the flat exploded, as he would have been unlikely to survive the blast.
“He admitted he had prepared the gas explosion with suicidal intent and thought that it would kill him,” she added. “He said he had been planning the gas explosion for five days.”
Jones’s solicitor David Holmes said: “His sight has significantly deteriorated in the last year and he has found it difficult to adjust.”
Jones admitted charges including stalking and starting the explosion.
Sentence was deferred and he was remanded in custody while social work and psychiatric reports are compiled.
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/police-believe-blaze-dundee-flat-started-deliberately/
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/probe-way-explosion-dundee-flat/
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/breathing-apparatus-used-dundee-flat-fire/
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.