Liam Mandeville jailed for Stockton arson attacks

A Hartlepool man who petrol-bombed two homes has been jailed for six years.

Liam Mandeville targeted a home in Kingston Road, Stockton in February 2014, forcing seven people, including a disabled child, to flee.

He also threw a petrol bomb at a house in High Clarence in 2013.

The 21-year-old, of St Catherine's Court, Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. He was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court.

Kingston Road was featured in the 2015 series of Channel 4 programme Benefits Street.

The court heard that Mandeville later went to Peterlee Police Station and confessed.

He said he did not realise there were children in the properties when he threw the petrol bombs.

In sentencing, the judge accepted that Mandeville would not have been caught if he had not confessed.

However, he said it was lucky no-one was killed in the attacks, and he had terrified two families, leaving them running for their lives.