Northampton arsonist targeted home of former partner and their two children in drug-fuelled rage

A Northampton arsonist who tried to burn down the home of his former partner and their two children in a drug-fuelled state has been jailed for five years.

Denny Shury, of no fixed abode, broke into the terraced house in St Andrews Road belonging to the mother of his two young sons close to 9pm on May 31 this year.

The 29-year-old was drunk and high on drugs and set fire to the kitchen work surface, the living room curtains and his former partner's bedding and clothing upstairs before fleeing the scene.

Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday (August 3) how the woman had taken in Shury after he was released from prison a month earlier - despite an indefinite restraining order she had against him.

Prosecutor Jonathan Eley told the court: "But on May 31, as a result of her posting a advert to sell her car, she received several phone calls from men, which Shury did not like.

"An argument broke out. With the two children present, he told her to take him to buy drugs and threatened he would smash her car and shave her head if she didn't."

The woman and her two children spent the rest of the day away from Shury - but when she returned home at 8.45pm that night, she spotted Shury five doors down from her home and instead drove past him.

It was then that Shury climbed over a neighbour's garden fence, broke into the terraced house through the kitchen door and set his former partner's home ablaze.

Despite the fast response of the fire service, much of the woman and her children's possessions were destroyed or ruined by smoke.

Shury - who has 31 previous convictions for 78 offences - was arrested soon after and later pleaded guilty to attempted arson in magistrates court.

At crown court, the 29-year-old interrupted proceedings to complain that he didn't want to hear the barristers go over the details of the case because it "upsets me, I just want to get it over with."

His defence barrister, Liam Muir, told the court his client "had proper insight into the offence and wants to change".

His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo told Shury in sentencing: "This is a serious allegation, and it is aggravated in my judgement in that the property you set fire to - which you shouldn't have been anywhere near to begin with - was the home where your children were living.

"That represents a violation of trust between people in a family relationship."

Shury was jailed for five years.