Mansfield woman’s arson attack on supported housing was revenge on landlord for unpaid water bill

Rachael Metcalf. (Picture: Nottinghamshire Police.)

A Mansfield woman who started a fire in the supported housing she shared with vulnerable residents including a wheelchair user was angry with her landlord about an unpaid water bill and has asked to be jailed.

Rachael Metcalfe packed her belongings into a bag before shredding and setting fire to a notebook in her bedroom on Hatton Court, at 7.45pm on July 10 last year, said prosecutor Gina Miller.

Metcalfe called 999 within minutes and told the call-handler her landlord would know why the fire was started.

She claimed she made sure the other four residents were out, but in fact they were only alerted by the smoke alarm.

A resident extinguished the fire in Metcalfe’s smoke-filled room with buckets of water and helped the wheelchair user into the garden, where he shook with “fear and anxiety.”

Another resident complained of chest pains, and said: "Even though I know Rachael is in prison I worry that she will come back."

Nottingham Crown Court heard she had returned from hospital the day before and found another demand for money she didn't owe.

She contacted landlords Haven Housing to complain and warned them they would be responsible for what happened next.

Metcalfe, aged 43, informed another resident about her plans to set the place on fire but they didn’t believe her.

No less than 15 minutes later she started the fire and left without informing anyone else.

Metcalfe told police it was not her intention to harm anyone and she just wanted to get her own back at the landlord and “see him suffer”, Ms Miller added.

Stuart Lody, mitigating, said Metcalfe, who has no previous convictions, was “completely overwhelmed” by the water bill, even though staff would have explained she wasn’t liable for it.

"She signalled she was going to start a fire,” he said. “She knew she should not have done it. She asks to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Then proper preparation can be made for her re-introduction to society.”

Metcalfe admitted arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered and was sentenced to 16 months in prison on Thursday. A restraining order, banning her from Hatton Court or contacting Haven Housing staff, was also imposed for five years.

Judge Tina Dempster told her: “The damage, thankfully, was limited.”