A TENANT smashed up household items and heaped them in the middle of his rented Hampshire studio flat after falling out with his landlord, a court heard.

Kevin Read then ripped up books and magazines to add to the pile and doused the lot in white spirit, gathered up his own belongings in a bin bag, called a taxi, and waited.

When the cab arrived he lit his mini bonfire and walked out to the waiting car.

Moments later, as he was driven away from the converted stable block at Everton Court, Milford Road, Everton, in the New Forest, the room exploded.

Read, of St Thomas Street, Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, remained at large for more than two years after the blaze, which caused £34,000 damage to the property.

But at Portsmouth Crown Court he was jailed by Judge Tim Milligan for eight years after a jury found him guilty of arson and endangering the lives of residents.

Read claimed that when he left the room there had been no fire.

But his story did not convince the jury, who convicted him of the arson by a majority verdict, after seven hours' deliberation.