Tenant tried to burn down flat when he was asked for the rent

A tenant who tried to burn down his landlord’s block of flats when he asked him for the rent has been jailed for 12 months.

Trevor Buckley, 47, drank himself into a rage after he was confronted by John Dhaliwal over £11,000 which he claimed he was owed.

The Scotsman had sunk up to eight pints on the evening last 22 August, when he told Mr Dhaliwal: ‘You’ll be minus a building’.

Buckley collected together wooden chairs and cardboard and heaped them together into a bonfire underneath the only fire escape for ten apartments at Horn Lane, Acton, west London.

Judge Edward Connell told Buckley: ‘You were having a dispute with your landlord, there were issue over rent arrears and eviction proceedings.

‘You decided in the early hours of the morning to, no doubt under the influence of alcohol, set a fire.

‘This was not a small fire, you can hear the concern in my voice about how serious the fire was.

‘You plainly have a problem with alcohol, considering your previous offences.

‘This could have easily escalated out of control with very serious consequences.’

Dhaliwal had already started the first stage of eviction proceedings against Buckley.

A neighbour heard Buckley muttering to himself: “I will burn you, you f***ing w****r, I will break your neck,’ Isleworth Crown Court heard.

He later came to his sense and returned minutes later to put the blaze out with buckets of water.

Buckley later admitted in police interviews that he had drunk 7-8 pints of beer before he started the bonfire.

Prosecutor Ravinder Johal said: ‘It could be said to be a revenge attack.’

Kyri Argyropoulos, defending Buckley, said: ‘I do not want to play down the offence, which must always be considered a serious offence, but it is clear he was angry at his landlord.

‘The landlord claims a loss of income of £11,000 a month, but a cursory glance shows that average rent is half of that in the Acton area.

‘Because of his situation, Mr Buckley cannot provide references, so a lot of properties on the market are not available to him.

‘There seems to be an element of the landlord taking advantage of him.’

Tattooed Buckley appeared in court via videolink from HMP Wormwood Scrubs wearing a black t-shirt.

Buckley, of Willow Tree Close, Acton, admitted arson reckless as to whether property would be damaged or destroyed and was sentenced to one year imprisonment.