Thug jailed for setting neighbour on fire in Newport attack

A cruel thug who sprayed his neighbour with gas before setting him alight with a lighter has been jailed for 15 years.

Craig Dowding, 34, left Robert Eddington with 6.5 per cent burns to his body at the victim’s flat in Newport on Wednesday, May 14, following the horrific attack. The defendant had stabbed a gas canister with a knife before spraying the gas over the “vulnerable” man’s hands and face.

Mr Eddington, 59, was taken to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran after suffering burns to his forehead, right eye socket, mouth and chin. The two had been socialising with friends when Dowding “lost his temper” after the victim had smoked the “scrapings” in his crack pipe.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the defendant had punched Mr Eddington around a dozen times before setting him alight. Despite the severe burns, the victim has made a good recovery.

Less than a month later, on Monday, June 9, Dowding seriously assaulted him again. The two were with friends at another flat watching Wales’ football World Cup qualifier away to Belgium when the defendant threw a knife at him before striking him to the top of the head with a knife, causing a 12cm wound. Mr Eddington lost a litre of blood as a result of this attack.

Dowding, of Greene Close, Newport, pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding with intent. He has previously been locked up for racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm and robbery.

Judge Paul Hobson told Dowding: “Your victim was an easy target for your violence and that’s how you viewed him. You sprayed butane gas over him before you set him alight. He was screaming at you to stop but you said, ‘F*** it. I’m going to do it anyway.’ The act caused him severe burns and put him at a high risk of secondary complications. The pain must have been agonising. This was cruel behaviour and carried a great risk that he would die.”

Dowding was jailed for 15 years, comprising 10 years in prison plus a five-year extended licence period.