A FANTASIST with a fixation for emergency services who staged burglaries and arson attacks on the home he shared with his grandmother has been jailed for four years.

Terry Waymark set off fireworks in the hallway of the flat in Southampton and on one occasion he and his asthmatic nan, Patricia Jalast, had to be taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

The 23-year-old also smashed dozens of her glass ornaments and daubed graffiti on the wall to make it appear they had been burgled.

He threw rocks through their living window and claimed they were being attacked.

Waymark, who had been previously convicted of threatening to set fire to his mother's house, was at the centre of a series of incidents at his grandmother's home over a three-month period from February last year.

Police became increasingly suspicious after being called to the property in Golden Grove in St Mary's on numerous occasions and set up closed-circuit TV cameras outside.

Waymark was caught when the covert surveillance equipment showed a firework being set off in the bathroom at the flat. He claimed afterwards that it had been thrown inside through a window.

At Southampton Crown Court, Adam Feest, prosecuting, said: "There was a reasonably long history of calls to the city council and the police from this defendant from that flat, detailing numerous incidents of attacks on him and the property.

"The volume of those calls reached such a stage where the council were worried about the strain on their resources, as were the police."

Emergency services were called to the flat during the evening of February 15 when a firework was set off in the hallway.

Fire crews escorted Waymark and his grandmother to safety and they were taken to the city's general hospital.

But just hours after they were released, another firework was set off in the hallway and emergency services attended again.

Waymark claimed they had been pushed through the letterbox, but police officers became doubtful when they could see no scorch marks around it.

Over the coming weeks, Waymark reported rocks being thrown through the living room window and that the property had been burgled. However he repeatedly changed his stories in interviews, the court was told.

Mr Feest said: "He seems to have a fixation with emergency services and it may well be that these types of incidents were very much attention seeking."

The court was told that among the explanations Waymark gave for his behaviour was to get rehoused, that he was fed up living with his grandmother and that it was a cry for help.

Waymark also admitted a string of offences relating to cheques he used, which later bounced. He admitted to writing to Reliance Services, which monitored a curfew order which had been placed under, on Hampshire Constabulary headed paper when he pretended to be a police constable asking for restrictions to be lifted for one evening.

Sally Carter, mitigating, said: "Clearly his grandmother was put at risk and he recognises that. But he then did everything he could to ensure there was no further damage or any risk in relation to her.

"It seems to be when Mr Waymark is going about his ordinary way of life, what he seeks is time with the people who are seen to be in the establishment, people who are seen to be of importance."

Waymark pleaded guiltyto two counts of arson, 15 offences of obtaining property by deception, one charge of attempting to obtain property by deception and eight matters of attempting to pervert the course of justice.