A TENANT accused of setting his home alight has told jurors it would have been "ludicrous" for him to torch the place while he was inside it.

A trial at Winchester Crown Court has heard Rachael Tuscani claims his home in Faroe Close, Popley, was petrol-bombed in the early hours of March 14 last year.

Tuscani, 39, has said the blaze was started by someone who got into his home and told him to warn a friend not to give evidence in a drugs trial.

Giving evidence, Tuscani told the court: "Setting light to my house with me inside is a ludicrous suggestion."

Tuscani told the court how it was "just coincidence" that he had planned to start a new life in America and was due to fly out the day after the fire. The trial has heard the blaze happened the day before he was due to be evicted from his home.

Tuscani denied knowing he was going to be evicted even though a pre-eviction notice in his former name, Bruce Middleditch, as he was known to Oakfern Housing Association, had been served a week earlier.

Cross-examining, Mr Andrew Barnett accused Tuscani of slipping up and alleged he had been caught out by expert evidence.

The prosecutor asserted Tuscani's claim that his home was set alight was "a figment of his imagination".

Mr Barnett told Tuscani: "I suggest to you that you were the person responsible for damaging the property by setting it alight with petrol.

"It had to look like it was an arson attack. You left the front door open and that is why you slipped up and said it was a petrol bomb.

"Unfortunately for you, you have been caught out because the experts agree on both sides that it certainly wasn't a petrol bomb."

Mr Barnett told Tuscani: "You knew perfectly well that you were going to be evicted. You were in a desperate financial state and you were going to take desperate measures."

Tuscani denies endangering life through arson and a charge of attempting to obtain property by deception.

The trial continues.