Man poured petrol on his mother's duvet and set it alight while she lay in bed

A MAN set fire to his mum's duvet while she was in bed.

- By DAVID POWELL Daily Post Reporter [e-mail]

The 35-year-old had poured petrol on to the bed cover before igniting it.

But Mold Crown Court heard the defendant himself put out the fire almost immediately.

Owain Lambert Hughes had been behaving "psychotically," according to a relative.

He admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. A judge gave him a community order with treatment, but said a prison sentence was hanging over him if he did not cooperate with its terms.

Prosecutor David Mainstone said Lambert Hughes, of Eleventh Avenue, Llay, had been living in Oxford but separated from his partner there and moved back to Llay several years ago.

But he drank and took cocaine. On July 17, his mother Dale Hughes, who worked night shifts, had been asleep at 2.30pm. He woke her and asked for £40, but she refused.

She went to work but the following day - his birthday - at 12.30pm, he came into her bedroom again and asked for £50. He appeared to be "under the influence of something", said Mr Mainstone.