Arsonist set fire to three houses and Pizza Hut in Blackburn

Callum Southworth, 22, says he ‘cannot remember’ setting any of the fires and is ‘confused about what happened that night’.

David Clarke, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said Southworth went on an arson spree on the night of April 21 into the morning of April 22.

The most serious blaze was set at Cambridge Street when a woman woke up at around 11pm to her smoke detector going off.

Mr Clarke said: “She saw smoke and went downstairs.

“At her front door there was a lot of smoke, and she had no idea how the fire started.

“She then realised there were firefighters shouting at her to get out.

“The firefighters broke the door down and rescued her.

“When she came outside, she saw the damage.”

The property which Southworth set alight in Cambridge Street, Blackburn (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

The woman needed oxygen and was taken to hospital where she was monitored for smoke inhalation.

On the same night, a mother woke up after seeing ‘a lot of yellow’ outside her home in Higher Audley Street.

She looked out of the window to see a large fire in her back garden which firefighters were already working on.

She woke her husband and four children, and they all managed to escape the house unharmed.

The fire had damaged a trampoline, the children’s bikes and a pram.

Another blaze was set in the bins at the Pizza Hut restaurant in Mason Street.

A worker locked up and left the restaurant on April 21 and returned on the morning of April 22 with investigators telling her a large bin around the back of the restaurant had been set on fire.

Finally, in Barjee Close, doorbell footage caught Southworth trying to set a doormat of a house on fire, but this attempt was unsuccessful.

Mitigating, Clare Thomas, said Southworth, of no fixed abode, has very little recollection of setting the fires and is extremely remorseful of his actions.

Ms Thomas said: “With regard to the offences themselves, Southworth has an extremely limited recollection and is at a loss to explain why he acted in this way.

“He has previous convictions but nothing like this.

“He doesn’t know why it happened, he cannot explain it.

“He is extremely remorseful and understands how serious the consequences of hic actions could have been.”

Southworth previously pleaded guilty to one count of arson recklessly endangering life, two counts of arson and one count of attempted arson.

Judge Heather Lloyd told Southworth he is a ‘dangerous offender’ and she did not believe he could not recall his actions on that night.

Sentencing him to four and a half years in prison, with a further two years on extended licence, Judge Lloyd said: “Almost a year ago, you went on what the prosecution calls a spree of setting fires to various residential and commercial premises.

“You say you can’t recall what you did that night because of being so intoxicated with drink and drugs - I find that hard to believe.

“What you did was quite deliberate.

“When you were interviewed on the afternoon you were arrested, you lied and said you were walking around because you were an insomniac.

“You went past walking around, you were committing crimes.”