Man was hearing voices when he tried to burn down mum's home in Mansfield

Kevin Hughes looked into a CCTV camera and waved after lighting the fuel at 4am on July 6 last year, Caroline Bradley, prosecuting, told Nottingham Crown Court.

Fortunately the fire didn't take hold and only a door matt was scorched, but a “strong smell of chemicals” prompted the family to check the camera.

Hughes was recorded approaching from nearby fields and standing between two posts. A shocked family member commented: "It felt like something you would see in a drama."

The court heard Hughes previously posted messages on Facebook saying, “Guess where I am.” Petrol-soaked gloves were found in his home and bank records proved he bought fuel at a garage first.

His mother described herself as “devastated and heart broken”, and was “at a loss to understand why he would try to kill herself and her family.”

“She feels he needs to face the consequences of his actions,” Ms Bradley said. His mother added: “At the end of the day I am his mother and still love him. I want him to get the help he needs.”

Bianca Brasoveanu, mitigating, said Hughes deserved full credit for his early guilty plea in “uniquely sad circumstances” where his “mental health was a driving factor.”

She said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2002 but this wasn't severe enough for hospitalisation.

He left Mansfield after he was “subjected to teasing and humiliation from those who knew about his condition” and lost contact with his family.

He didn’t “completely lose his ability to consider the consequences,” she said, but he doesn’t know why he did it.

Hughes, aged 40, of Owen Mews, Wellingborough, pleaded guilty to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered on January 23.

On Tuesday Judge John Sampson told him: “Your behaviour was highly dangerous and could easily have resulted in far worse damage and even death.

“There were adults and children in the house. Fortunately it failed to ignite. Your mother still loves you and recognises you need help.”

He said Hughes’ behaviour was “probably as a result of you hearing command voices,” but this was exacerbated by using illegal substances.