Man pleads guilty to arson after fire behind shop

A man, who was homeless at the time, has admitted starting a fire behind a barber's shop which he then tried to extinguish with his own urine.

Ryan O'Shea, 40, pleaded guilty during a hearing at Plymouth Magistrates' Court to one charge of arson following an incident outside Spike-Up Barbers in Mutley Plain on 7 April.

There was "none to minimal damage" the court heard, and he was given a nine-month conditional discharge.

Representing O'Shea, Rebecca Wood told the court he had just left hospital after being stabbed and had started the fire using some cardboard and rubbish because it was "freezing cold".

She said he started the fire out of "desperation" and it was not a malicious act, and he did the best he could to extinguish the blaze when it spread.

The court also heard O'Shea was now living on a friend's sofa.

Magistrate Colin Stares said while O'Shea's efforts to extinguish the flames were unusual, but it was to his credit he attempted to put the fire out.

"You clearly tried very hard to contain the fire," he told the defendant.