JAILED: Guest torched car after being thrown out of birthday party
A 21st birthday house party ended disastrously when a disgruntled guest torched the car of the hostess in a revenge attack after being asked to leave the celebrations, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
John Dalloway and his girlfriend were ejected from the address when she got involved in a fight and he threatened to 'take them all on,' the judge was told.
Police were called and, after she had been arrested, the 30-year-old filled a container with 1.5litres of petrol at a garage shortly before 4am on March 5.
He returned to Childs Avenue, Wood Cross where he doused a Mini parked on the driveway of the house where the party had been held as the hosts were going to bed, explained Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting.
Dalloway doused the car with fuel through a smashed back window, that may have already been broken, before setting fire to it, continued the prosecutor.
He was seen crouched down by the side of the Mini sparking a lighter moments before it burst into flames.
Several people used buckets of water in an unsuccessful bid to put out the blaze that threatened another parked car on the drive and the house itself which was only six feet away, continued Mr Soulsby who added: "It was extinguished by firefighters who said that it could easily have spread."
Dalloway was arrested soon afterwards and a receipt found in his vehicle confirmed he had bought petrol shortly before the fire - a purchase confirmed by the filling station CCTV.
"It was made specifically for the purposes of setting light to the car parked outside the house," concluded Mr Soulsby.
Mr Jon Roe, defending the self employed builder, a father of three, said: "It was a moment of madness after he had been drinking and taking drugs."
Dalloway from Tansey Green Road, Dudley, who had four previous convictions for criminal damage, pleaded guilty to arson and was jailed for four years three months.
He had allegedly downed a bottle of vodka before reaching the party where he continued to drink and, at some stage, took cocaine, the court heard.
Judge Barry Berlin said the defendant posed a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public and jailed him for four years three months with an extra two years of monitoring on release.
He said: "You decided to teach them a lesson over the slight you and your girlfriend had suffered. This was a revenge attack in which you calmly and coldly went to a petrol station where you bought petrol with which you doused the car and set light to it.
"You knew people were in the house and you knew how a car was likely to explode like a bomb next to the house."
