AN arsonist who left his neighbour with only a handful of possessions after burgling his flat and setting it ablaze, has been jailed for five years and three months.

Teenager Kyle Greenwood smiled and waved to his mother in the public gallery at Bolton Crown Court as he was led away to start his sentence.

Judge Richard Gioserano told 19-year-old Greenwood: “You were motivated by malice, spite and revenge.”

The court was told that victim 50-year-old Sean Williamson, who lived in a ground floor flat in Church Street, Farnworth, below Greenwood and his mother, only has left two ornaments, a box of letters and papers and a tee-shirt following the arson attack on July 10.

Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, told how Greenwood had previously burgled Mr Williamson’s home and spent time in custody on remand after his fingerprint was found at the property.

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But he bore a grudge against Mr Williamson and, after getting drunk, he burgled the rented flat again, stealing items including his bank cards and Spongebob Squarepants figurines before setting the property on fire.

Greenwood’s mother and girlfriend, who were upstairs at the time, escaped through the smoke.

Then Greenwood tried to go into the burning flat, pretending he was trying to rescue Mr Williamson.

In a statement read out in court, the victim told how he had no insurance and now has had to find other accommodation. Virtually all his possessions, worth a total of £4,500 were destroyed.

“He did not think he would be so unlucky as to be a victim of crime again. He did not factor in your vindictiveness,” Judge Gioserano told Greenwood.

“Once you got out you had the audacity to try and play the hero. This was an act of revenge against someone who had done you no wrong.”

At an earlier hearing Greenwood pleaded guilty to reckless arson and burglary. The court heard that when he was 10-years-old Greenwood was also convicted of an arson attack at business premises and has served other time in custody.

Dan Gaskell, defending, said Greenwood has a “long-standing and difficult relationship with alcohol” and warned that a lengthy sentence would mean he is in danger of becoming institutionalised.

In addition to the jail sentence a restraining order was made banning Greenwood from contacting his victim.