AN arsonist who told his wife he was going to set fire to the house has been jailed for three years.

David Kowalczyk disabled smoke alarms and cut the telephone wires in the house before starting a blaze upstairs.

Earlier, the 45-year-old had turned on the gas cooker after telling his wife: "I'm going to torch the house."

Kowalczyk's wife, Karen, switched off the oven, but later heard the sound of breaking glass and realised a fire had been started in a bedroom of their home in Middlesbrough.

Mrs Kowalczyk tried to struggle through the thick black smoke to rescue her pet rat and guinea pigs but was stopped when firefighters arrived.

Deborah Sherwin, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that the semi-detached housing association property was extensively damaged in the blaze on June 5 last year.

Kowalczyk admitted arson, while more serious charges of arson with intent to endanger life, and arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, were allowed to lie on file after he denied them at an earlier hearing.

Judge Anthony Briggs told Kowalczyk: "Courts must do what they can to discourage stupid offences of this nature.

"Remember that when you get out, should there even be the remotest repetition of this behaviour, you will be locked up for a very long time.

"It was quite clear you did it deliberately and were in a sufficient state to think about matters because smoke alarms were disabled and telephone wires were cut, and quite apart from that, serious damage was done.

"Even when it is an offence of simple arson, there remains a risk to the fire brigade for having to deal with matters, and there is a risk of fire spreading and causing significant damage and significant danger to others."

Miss Sherwin described Kowalczyk's six-year relationship with his wife - his third marriage - as tempestuous, and said both suffered from alcohol and mental health problems.

John Gillette, mitigating, told the court that the relationship was now over and Kowalczyk, of Chippenham Road, on the Easterside estate, had not drunk alcohol for almost a year.

He added: "He is adamant he takes full responsibility for this and he knows he needs to be punished."