A cruel thug subjected his neighbour to homophobic abuse by posting vile letters and setting fire to his wheelie bin after he refused to give him cigarette rolling papers.
Adrian Thompson, of Haydock, Merseyside, pushed offensive notes through his letterbox calling him homophobic slurs following a confrontation on June 12 2023. He also called his neighbour, who lives as a throuple with two other men, vile names and torched his neighbour's rubbish.
Yesterday, Thompson appeared at Liverpool Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to arson. Prosecutor Michael Stephenson said: "On June 12 last year, the defendant came knocking on the door asking for cigarette papers. He was told they hadn't any, and told him to leave. The defendant posted some notes through the door.
"The exchange may have been a little less friendly than that. The victim and his friends went across the road at one point to confront the defendant, who felt threatened by them. They left, and 20 minutes later the defendant was seen to come to their home. There was a wheelie bin outside the front of the house under a wooden canopy, which the defendant pulled 1-2m away from the wall and then used accelerant and a lighter to set fire to the contents of the bin.
"The victim and others witnessed this happening and they were speedily onto the fire with pans of water, and extinguished it. The offence is aggravated by homophobic abuse. The defendant called the victim and his friends 'f*****s' and one of the notes suggested they had unlawful pornography on a computer. I'm not sure how he could know that, but we point to that as evidence of his hostility."
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Daniel Travers, defending, said: "He regrets his response to the interaction with his neighbours. The positive aspect to all of this is the fact this offence was committed a year ago and they have continued to live as neighbours without ongoing difficulty.
“Though this was a completely inappropriate reaction, and all arson is serious, by his guilty plea I hope the defendant has put himself in a much better position.
“If he's sent to custody he will lose his accommodation, he will be left in hostels which he fears will put him in proximity with other drug users."
Judge David Aubrey KC said: "There was an altercation between you and your victim, during which you made certain comments that, in the court's judgement, aggravates the seriousness of this offence. You returned and set fire to the contents of the wheelie bin using an accelerant and a lighter.
“Fortunately the contents were attended to almost immediately and so it was... no real harm was occasioned by that which you had done. Nonetheless any form of arson is an extremely serious offence."
He sentenced Thompson, 54, to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He also ordered him to complete 20 rehabilitation days, and pay £200 in court costs.
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