A Port Talbot man deliberately started a fire in his flat then calmly sat down to watch television, drink cider and snort cocaine whilst other residents – including an elderly bed-bound woman – were trapped in the building 🔥😱
Nicholas Ronan, 42, of Parry Road, started three separate fires in his flat on December 9 last year, knowing there were other residents in the block who couldn’t escape. Swansea Crown Court heard he was shouting about “ghosts” and threatened emergency workers who tried to help.
A passer-by walking along Parry Road heard smashing and saw a dumbbell fly out of a ground floor window. A woman then ran out shouting “He has lit a fire!” When the witness approached the broken window, he could feel heat radiating from inside and saw Ronan “sitting down watching TV, drinking a can of Strongbow, and snorting what appeared to be cocaine.”
When shouted at to get out, Ronan replied: “The ghosts are going to get me.”
Police entered the block to rescue the elderly woman and her carer whilst firefighters tackled the blaze. Ronan was found sitting on a wall holding a dumbbell, talking about “black ghosts.” He threatened to “smash” a firefighter if he came closer and told a policeman he would “rip his head off” before throwing the dumbbell at him.
He then told the firefighter: “I started the fire with curtains.”
The fire caused £60,000 worth of damage to the Tai Tarian housing association property. Three separate seats of fire were found – behind the front door, in the kitchen, and on a living room chair.
James McKenna, defending, said Ronan had been taking a “cocktail” of prescription medication, illicit substances and alcohol but was now abstinent in custody and “disgusted” at his behaviour.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said Ronan had caused “incalculable” distress to fellow residents. With discounts for guilty pleas, Ronan was sentenced to four years and four months in prison for arson, affray and possession of an offensive weapon.
