Man who set fire to mum's house jailed

A man who set fire to his mother's house in Cornwall two months after she died has been jailed for three years.

Mark Fury, 54, pleaded guilty to arson after he set fire to the property on Moss Road, Boscastle, on 30 March.

Truro Crown Court heard on Friday how the fire spread to a terraced holiday home next door which caused £240,000 damage, as well as a primary school on the other side of Moss Rose.

Judge Simon Carr said Fury, of Fore Street, Boscastle was "very unwell at the time" after the death of his mother.

Mr Fury, of Fore Street, Boscastle, had been drinking wine as a coping mechanism after his mental health declined, and told firefighters at the scene that he was sorry.

But the judge said Fury would not have known if the holiday home was occupied or not or if people had been working in the school, even though there were no pupils there on a Sunday.

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