Darren Stewart (30) had been put under pressure and "blew his top" in a day when he was receiving threats over drug debts and was coping with his partner being treated in hospital, Inverness Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday.

Depute Fiscal Ron Phillips said the blaze, involving blankets, clothing and paper dowsed with turpentine substitute being ignited on the hall floor behind the front door of the Carnarc Cresent property caused £14,405 worth of damage and £4,163 in lost rent.

He said the consolation was no-one had been placed in any real danger as Stewart had taken his children out of the house, but said there could have been "a potential risk" as it was an end-terraced property.

He said the alarm was raised around 1am on January 26 by Stewart, who reported his house was on fire.

Around the same time, a neighbour looked out of his window and saw Stewart, now of King Duncan's Road, Inverness, shouting and swearing someone had "torched his house".

The neighbour went over to Stewart's home, where he found him in the garden with his three children.

Stewart and his neighbour went down a path to the back of the property where the neighbour noticed a turps container on the path. Stewart told him: "that was the petrol that was used".

The fiscal said when they entered the property, the neighbour was told by Stewart not to put out the small fire because the emergency services were on their way.

By the time fire crews had doused out the flames, the hall and lower floor had been damaged, with the entire house smoke damaged.

At first, he said Stewart maintained his house had been petrol bombed, but police officers later smelled turps on him. In a police interview, he then became emotional and spontaneously admitted to starting the fire.

Mr Phillips added: "When asked why, he said he had been getting grief from three males who he named to police."

When subsequently interviewed, he said he had been under pressure due to debts owed to local drug dealers and had received threats about those debts.

He later said he had been suffering depression that had come to a head, leading him to start the fire.

However, Mr Phillips said there was suspicion the fire had been an ill-conceived scheme to push for a house move.

Stewart's solicitor Marc Dickson said his client's psychiatric report highlighted a history of drug addiction, emotional instability and episodes of suicidal thoughts.

He said his borderline personalty disorder had been compounded by an addiction to prescription medication and street valium.

However, he said Stewart, who was supported in court by his partner and community psychiatric nurse, was now motivated to deal with his addiction and wanted to dispel any idea the offence had been premeditated but was down to a number of pressurising factors.

He said: "The couple had been concerned by threats made that day and, in addition to that, his partner had been in hospital that day. She suffers from epilepsy, other disorders, depression and anxiety and had suffered multiple fitting.

"He told police he had simply become overwhelmed and, in his words, blew his top and acted in an entirely inappropriate manner."

After pleading guilty to using turpentine substitute and a naked flame to wilfully set fire to blankets, clothing and paper placed on the floor of the hall in the property at Carnarc Crescent, Inverness, Sheriff Margaret Neilson sentenced him to two years probation and 100 hours of community service.

She said: "You have pleaded guilty to a very serious charge of setting fire to a property which could have placed significant risk to life, never mind the cost of the damage caused. The court has to look at this seriously. It was suspected by police you took this deliberate course of action to try to have your family rehoused.

"In your reports, there were a whole lot of factors which came to the fore that day and caused you to behave in that irrational manner."

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