A court has heard how a Haverfordwest man deliberately set fire to the block of flats in which he resides, in a bid to get sent to prison.

David Dyson, 27, contacted his social worker on September 21 and informed her that he intended setting fire to the property in Dark Street, Haverfordwest. He claimed this was because he wanted to go to prison for four years.

When his neighbour noticed black smoke emanating out of the property, she urged Dyson to help her extinguish the fire.  He refused.

“This was intentional arson,” Crown Prosecutor Sian Vaughan told Haverfordwest magistrates.

“The woman was shocked and upset.”

Dyson was then seen to hurl a bowl through another neighbour’s window, causing the window to smash.

Police officers were alerted, and Dyson was arrested at the property and taken to Cardigan Police station.

After being placed inside a cell, Ms Vaughan said that the defendant proceeded to smear excrement and food on the walls 'up to ceiling height'.

He also urinated on the floor and attempted to block the toilet by putting his clothes inside it.

Ms Vaughan went on to say that when a female police sergeant entered his cell, he pushed her to the floor, causing grazing to her arm. He also swung a punch at a police community support officer who had accompanied the officer into the cell, however this failed to make contact .

Dyson pleaded guilty to charges of arson, assaulting two emergency workers, causing criminal damage to the police cell and causing criminal damage to the property in Dark Street by breaking a window.  He appeared before Haverfordwest magisrates via a video link from Swansea Prison where he is being remanded in custody.

“No one was injured as a result of the arson, but it was obviously a frightening experience for the witnesses, and there was minimal psychological harm,” said Dyson’s solicitor, Mr David Wheale.

“But it was a relatively small fire, and the parties were able to put it out.”

After considering the facts, magistrates declined jurisdiction in the matter.

Dyson will now be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on October 24. He was remanded in custody.

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