A HAMPSHIRE man who set fire to a university student dressed as a sheep because he was "trying to get a laugh" was today jailed for five years.

Jason Whatley, 39, of Faroes Close, Fareham, Hampshire, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after admitting setting fire to 19-year-old Stuart Mitchell in October last year.

Mr Mitchell was left in ''excruciating'' pain with burns to 12% of his body after his cotton wool fancy dress costume was engulfed in flames during a night out at the Headingley Taps pub in Leeds.

Whatley, who was visiting the city for a reunion and had drunk around eight pints at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty last month to arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.

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Today, the court heard how Mr Mitchell suffered burns to his ankles, arms and hands and needed a number of skin graft operations after Whatley used a cigarette lighter to ignite his costume of Lycra tights and a top covered with hundreds of cotton wool balls.

Sentencing Whatley, Judge Kerry Macgill condemned his ''cowardly act'' in standing by and not helping Mr Mitchell as he was on fire.

The judge said Mr Mitchell's life had been ''blighted'' by what happened on the evening of October 17 last year.

''I've seen the photographs of his injuries, I hope you have as well. They are horrendous. His pain and anguish he suffered is hard to imagine,'' he told Whatley.

''He has scarring that will last a lifetime and pain and discomfort as well.''

Judge Macgill sentenced Whatley, whose wife is due to give birth in a few weeks' time, to five years in prison and told him he would spend half that time in custody before being released on licence.