A man who torched the flat he was renting from an NHS doctor was found dead in his prison cell less than three weeks into his sentence.

Jack Phillipson caused nearly £30,000 of damage after starting a fire in a third-floor maisonette he was renting in Washington in December 2020.

The 27-year-old recklessly set fire to the sofa left the oven on with the door open and turned the taps on in the bathroom sink with the plug in before leaving the flat, which he rented from an NHS public health doctor during the pandemic.

On July 27, 2021, he was jailed for six years at Newcastle Crown Court having admitted a charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Read more: Tenant is jailed for torching flat he was renting from NHS doctor

At the time he was branded a “danger to the public”.

He also had a previous conviction for arson in 2017 when he initially claimed the fire was an accident after he threw a cushion at a candle.

Less than three weeks into his sentence prison officers found Phillipson dead in his cell at HMP Northumberland, where he had been transferred from Durham just six days earlier.

He had been in jail since January 15 that year when he was remanded in custody.

A report published into his death detailed how he did not respond to prison officers during a headcount on August 15 of the same year, and he was found dead in his cell.

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An officer who went to the cell said that something “didn’t feel right” when he did not respond to her rattling and knocking on his door. She later called support and they entered the cell.

Prison staff attempted CPR but he was confirmed dead by paramedics who arrived a short time later.

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He had called his mum less than three hours before he was found dead.

While at HMP Durham he had previously told a prison chaplain that he would take his own life if his ex-partner did not answer the phone to him, but later said he had made contact with her and that he did not want to harm himself.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said there was “little to indicate to staff that he was an immediate risk” at the time of his death.