A Borehamwood son who felt unloved wept in the dock as he was sentenced to three years in prison at the Old Bailey for starting a bonfire in his mother's bed.

Neighbours had to be evacuated when Duncan Rea, 21, of Thirsk Road, Borehamwood, started an inferno which totally engulfed his mother's Burnt Oak home after she went on holiday without telling him, the court heard on Friday.

His mother Susan Rea had left keys with a neighbour and jetted abroad with her partner, forbidding anyone to tell her son where she had gone, said Mr Chris Amor, prosecuting.

A fierce row which ended in smashed windows had prompted Rea's mother to ask him to leave her house in North Road, Burnt Oak.

But Rea returned to his mother's house on February 27 and found it empty. He broke in and eventually discovered that his mother was abroad.

Mr Amor said that Rea "pulled some draws out of the bedroom cabinets in order to make a bonfire on the bed.

"He also intended to kill himself because he felt shut out by his mother and totally unloved."

Firefighters were called the following morning to tackle a blaze which gutted the house and endangered the lives of neighbours. The fire caused £24,000 of damage.

And despite letters sent to the court by Rea's forgiving mother pleading for leniency, the judge said he had no alternative but to send the young man to prison.

Sentencing Rea, the judge, Recorder Mr Geoffrey Nice, said: "I cannot decide between suicide as the motive or revenge. If suicide was the motive you clearly had no regard for the safety of the neighbours. The photographs show that you placed the neighbours at serious risk.

"Your background no doubt merits a sympathetic approach to the attitude you developed towards your mother and her partner, but can provide no excuse for the actions which were driven by them.

"Of value today is your mother's attitude exposed in her letter to you and the court."

Rea pleaded guilty to arson and being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

The court heard how after his mother's new partner had moved into her home in 1996, the son had felt "unloved" and displaced from her affections.

Meanwhile after leaving the home, he had moved in with his girlfriend in Borehamwood.

Rea returned to his mother's house wanting "somebody to talk to", but found it empty. He broke into the house and rummaged through his mother's address book, eventually discovering from an aunt that his mother was abroad, the court heard.

Rea was arrested when he returned to the scene of the fire, but initially was released on bail, while denying he caused the blaze.

Mr Amor told the court: "He came back because he remembered there were children living next door and he was concerned for their welfare."

Defending, Mr Abbas Lakha said: "He (Rea) is adamant that his actions were not in any way to punish his mother -- it was largely motivated by his intention to take his own life." The fear that gripped him when the fire took hold, caused Rea to run out of the house, the court was told.

"Despite everything that has passed she is a lady who still loves her son dearly and forgives him," Mr Lakha added.

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