A TEENAGER recruited by a Fagan-like character to go on a scrap stealing spree sparked a gas blast when he dropped a burning piece of paper in the loft of an empty house.

Apprentice builder Luke Gofton was said to have been targeted by career criminal Michael Casey to help steal a boiler and water tank from the property in Hartlepool.

Gofton was ordered into the attic to look for valuable scrap, but when he could not see in the dark he lit a piece of paper to aid his search – but dropped it and sparked a blaze.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday how bolt croppers had been used to cut the pipes to a downstairs boiler, and the blaze ignited the escaping gas and caused an explosion.

The fierce blast blew out windows of the end-terraced house in Sheriff Street – showering passers-by with glass – and forced the emergency services to cordon off the area.

Gofton, 19, admitted burglary and arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, and was sent to a young offenders’ institution for a total of two-and-a-half years.

Casey, 48, pleaded guilty only to a charge of burglary when it could not be proved that he had cut the gas pipes, and was jailed for 18 months by Judge George Moorhouse.

Gofton’s barrister, Peter Makepeace, told the court the teenager had started drinking heavily and taking valium tablets in the weeks before the incident on August 5.

He was “off his head” when he had gone to support a friend at court and was approached by Casey and offered £75 to help during the thieving spree, said Mr Makepeace.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say that, in an almost Faginesque way, he was picked up by someone who is obviously a full-time career criminal and very much senior in age.

“Luke Gofton was offered £75 to go with this man and help, and incredibly stupidly, and no doubt entirely in the grip of the alcohol and drugs, he did that,” said Mr Makepeace.

Robin Denny, for Casey, said: “This was a rather pathetic attempt by this defendant, who had been homeless for some considerable time, to take metal to further his need for drugs.”

The court heard that Casey, formerly of Baden Street, Hartlepool, has convictions for burglary going back to the Seventies and has spent time in prison for a number of violent offences.

Mr Makepeace said Gofton, of Flint Walk, Hartlepool, had rarely been in trouble, was well thought-of by former teachers and a college tutor and had stopped his substance abuse.