Hallucinating Mansfield arsonist walked into family home and started £12,000 blaze
An hallucinating Mansfield arsonist who entered a family home and started a fire that caused £12,000 of damage wasn’t helped by the amount of cocaine he had taken, a court has heard.
Jackson Tideswell appeared to be hallucinating that people were following him, and shouted, “they were coming after him,” when he entered the address in Blidworth through an unlocked door, on the night of August 11, last year.
Oreshia Thomas, prosecuting, said the sleeping family’s dogs started barking and woke their son who said Tideswell looked “terrified.”
He barricaded himself in the bathroom and started a fire that destroyed £675 of clothing and towels.
When police arrived to force their way in they found him "making no sense at all.”
In the process he damaged bathroom tiles, furniture, clothing, and carpeting to the value of £12,298, and left the family feeling “anxious and nervous.”
Magistrates heard he has three previous convictions for six dissimilar offences and was last in court in 2019.
“There was no planning and it appears to be a random and impulsive act,” Ms Thomas added.
Mark Stocks, mitigating, said Tideswell's responsibility was “substantially reduced” because of a mental health disorder but it was unclear why he is not suitable for a mental health treatment requirement.
"It was, at least in part, a mental health episode," he said. “The quantity of cocaine he was taking at the time clearly didn’t help. He has no recollection of this incident at all.
“He was a very heavy recreational cocaine user. To his credit he has not used cocaine at all since.”
"He has also moved from independent living in Sutton to live with his family. His mental health has improved. His record of previous offending doesn't bear any resemblance to this offence.”
Tideswell, aged 37, of Shelton Court, Mansfield, admitted arson and criminal damage when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on March 24.
On Thursday he received a six month sentence, suspended for 12 months, with 15 rehabilitation days. He was ordered to pay £2,000 compensation.
“We have heard what has been said about your mental health,” the presiding magistrate told him. “But of course you were using drugs.
“This family were quietly asleep in their own home when this happened. I cannot imagine how traumatic this was for them.”