The victim of an arson attack has slammed the sentence handed to the woman who started the blaze at his home as too lenient and offering no deterrent to others.

Paul Horton’s house in Middlesbrough suffered extensive damage when a fire, believed to have been started in a wheelie bin, spread to the back door and hallway on Halloween 2020.

The rest of the house, on Marton Grove Road, was badly smoke damaged and Paul was left with around £3,000 of damage to his belongings. He was forced to move into “horrific” temporary accommodation while his landlord repaired the home, which had suffered around £25,000 of damage.

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Last month arsonist Katie Williams, who has a back catalogue of 21 convictions for 38 offences, was handed a seven-month sentence suspended for two years after a judge said, “I’m giving you a chance.”

Paul, 48, a former HGV driver said: “It really annoyed me when the judge said he would give her another chance – surely she’s had enough chances already.

“She wrecked my life that night, my next-door neighbours and my landlord had to pay a huge amount of money to fix it and she can walk the streets probably laughing her head off thinking ‘I got away with it’.

The Northern Echo: Paul HortonPaul Horton (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“If people think they can start a fire and that’s all their going to get there’s no deterrent.

“I thought she’d be going to prison.”

Williams, 38, was arrested after blood on the back door was found to be hers and later pleaded guilty to a charge of arson.

Teesside Crown Court heard last month (July 31) that the fire appeared to have been started from a wheelie bin and caused extensive damage to Paul’s home, while smoke also spread into his neighbour’s house where a family with two children were sleeping.

In a victim impact statement, the neighbour said: “I do not like to think about what the outcome could have been as it makes me angry someone could have put me and my family within moments of tragedy.”

Paul, who has since moved to Kelloe, County Durham, had luckily gone shopping early that morning before taking his care dog for a walk on the beach, only to get a phone call alerting him to the blaze at around 6am.

When he got home, he found a police cordon outside and fire crews tackling the flames.

He continued: “On that night five people could have died if the fire spread.

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“I was lucky I went out shopping and that someone managed to wake up my next-door neighbours.

“I lost all my sentimental things and all my pictures of my last dog. Luckily one of my friends had one and that’s the only photo I’ve got now. The only thing I managed to save was my late grandad’s rug.

“I got housed in a halfway house because I had nowhere to go and they wouldn’t let me keep my dog even though she’s a care dog – it was like being in prison.”

The Ministry of Justice said it does not comment on individual cases.