A MAN who blew up a Newport house when he tried to kill himself causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage in a gas explosion has been locked up for seven-and-a-half years today.

William Flindell suffered 58 percent burns to his body in a failed suicide attempt in George Street last year and spent two months in hospital as a result of his injuries.

Flindell, 50, of no fixed abode, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of arson and being reckless as to whether life is endangered at Cardiff Crown Court.

At the time, a jury was directed to find him not-guilty of a second charge, of arson with intent to endanger life - which he had denied - due to a lack of prosecution evidence.

Today he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court over the blast on April 2, 2016.

Last week the court heard Flindell had been drinking heavily on his 50th birthday when, in an attempt to end his life, unscrewed a gas valve from a gas meter in his home.

After letting the gas run for five minutes he lit it using a lighter causing an explosion, £220,000 in damage and minor injuries to two other tenants in the house at the time.

The court heard that before he lit the gas, he warned other residents by shouting “I’m going to blow the house up”.

Several reports from psychiatric doctors were presented in the case, assessing whether Flindell should be considered as “dangerous”.

Today, Judge Michael Fitton QC, counsel and doctors continued to discuss the suitability of mental health orders in lieu of a jail sentence.

This included a “hybrid order” which would allow Flindell serve his sentence in both hospital and prison.

Sarah Waters, defending, said that the events on April 2 were a “unfortunate coming together of a number of factors that won’t happen again”.

She said that Flindell conceded he wasn’t “violent man” and that “the risk of him doing anything like this again is very minimal.”

Defence counsel recommended the judge pass a section 37/41 order under the Mental Health Act (1983) which would see Flindell serve his sentence in hospital.

This included a programme of treatment recommended by forensic psychiatrist Dr Stephen Attwood including antidepressants, therapy and treatment for alcoholism.

While satisfied that Flindell had no pathological interest in fire setting, Judge Michael Fitton QC, said that it was  “miraculous” no one was hurt in the blast.

The judge added that Flindell was not "psychotic" when he lit the gas and "knew exactly what he was doing [...] demonstrated by the fact of (Flindell) calling out a warning".

“The manner in which you did it was not just reckless but grossly reckless [...] an extremely dangerous action for selfish reasons."

Flindell was credited for his early guilty plea by the judge and noted his history with alcohol, depression and suicide attempts “set against a complex personality”.

The judge added that the defendant had suffered "severe and untold life changing injuries" from the blast.

After assessing evidence, Judge Fitton stated Flindell posed a risk to the public and imposed a four-and-a-half year sentence extended for three years – a total of seven-and-a-half years.

The sentence, under Section 45A of the Mental Health Act (1983), means that Flindell must serve his sentence in hospital but can be discharged to prison if deemed well by medical staff.

He must serve three years of the sentence before being eligible for parole and if released, must serve the rest of his sentence on licence.