AN ARSONIST who set fire to the house he was sharing after being told he was about to be evicted has been jailed.
Przemek Berg was sentenced to six and a half years imprisonment for endangering the lives of four people by setting fire to the house he was living in with them.
Berg, 25, set fire to a pair of curtains in his room, before locking the door and fleeing the house in Leander Road, Thornton Heath.
Four people - three men and a woman - were inside the house, but managed to escape without injury.
One of the residents, who was trapped in an upstairs room, was helped out of the building by a man who was working on a nearby house, who used his ladder to help him escape through the upstairs window.
Fire investigators found the blaze, on April 3 this year, had been deliberately started.
Further investigation by detectives revealed that Berg had recently been told he was to be evicted from the property.
He was arrested and charged two days after the fire with arson with intent to endanger life, and jailed on November 14, after being found guilty of arson with intent to endanger life following a trial at The Old Bailey.
Speaking after the case, Detective Constable Frances Leary, from Croydon CID, who investigated the case, said: "Berg put the lives of his fellow tenants in real danger by starting a fire in the house.
"It is only by good fortune that those who were in the building at the time were not seriously injured and were able to get out unharmed.
"Berg's actions were extremely reckless and the length of his sentence reflects this."
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Arek Basaj, 25, of Leander Road, was also charged with arson with intent to endanger life, but was found not guilty following a trial.
