A WOULD-BE arsonist who nearly blew up his own home in a drunken fit of rage has been sentenced to two years in a young offenders' institution.

Andrew James, 20, sat with a cigarette lighter in his hand having turned on all the gas rings on the kitchen cooker.

The lighter was snatched from him by his mother, Patricia, with the house being evacuated and the police called.

John Spencer, prosecuting, said that when James got drunk he became violent and the police had to be called to his home in Gorsefields Court, Normanby, Middlesbrough, on a number of previous occasions.

On July 15 last year, he had returned home in a drunken state and became abusive to his mother, demanding that she make him something to eat.

After returning to bed, she and her husband noticed a smell of gas and dashed downstairs.

Mr Spencer said: "The defendant was sat on the kitchen floor and had a cigarette lighter in his hand. All six gas outlets on the cooker had been turned on."

When James was arrested he said, swearing, that he wanted to blow the house up.

He described himself as a nutcase and said he was angry with himself and his family.

Katy Dunn, for James, who admitted attempted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, described him as an immature young man with behavioural problems, who had a serious drink problem.

Locking him up, Judge Michael Taylor said: "The lives that were endangered were the lives of your own parents. It must have been terrifying for them."