A MAN who set fire to his flat using petrol was saved along with another resident after a neighbour - who could not sleep because of toothache - spotted the smoke and flames.

Andrew Williams, 42, who has been jailed for four-and-a-half years, was taken unconscious from his bed in the ground floor flat, one of three in a converted terraced house on Chepstow Road, Newport, shortly after 4am on April 2 this year.

He spent several days at the Royal Gwent Hospital, including a period in a coma, before being arrested upon discharge. Hospital staff had smelled petrol on him, on his arrival.

The resident of the basement flat, asleep after a night out drinking, woke up only when firefighters smashed in his front door.

At a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Gareth James said it was "fortunate, in some respects" that a neighbour afflicted by toothache was struggling to sleep.

He heard a loud noise and felt his flat shake. Going out into the road, he saw smoke and flames in a window of a neighbouring flat, and phoned 999.

Williams' flat was extensively damaged and needs complete refurbishment. The court was told that an insurance payout of more than £36,000 has been agreed with the property's owners.

A fire investigation report revealed that a five-litre plastic petrol container was found under a seat cushion, and the use of petrol would explain why the fire developed quickly.

In police interviews Williams could not explain how the fire started, or why. He recalled watching television, then the sofa was on fire, and it was "like a dream", said Mr James.

His marriage ended early in 2017, his parents had died recently, he had been diagnosed with depression, and had tried to commit suicide weeks earlier, resulting in a spell in hospital.

Mr James said Williams, who pleaded guilty to a charge of arson, being reckless as to whether life had been endangered, insisted he had not been trying to kill himself, a suicide note found in the flat relating instead to his attempt in March.

"He said he couldn't remember anything, but said that from the fire report it looked as if he had done it," said Mr James.

Defence counsel Gareth Williams told Judge Martin Fitton QC his client had not set the fire out of spite, and had got on well with his landlady and the residents of the building's other two flats.

A psychiatric report mentioned that Williams may have memory difficulties following the fire and Mr Williams said: "He really doesn't remember exactly how it happened."

He added that Williams is very sorry for the damage caused, and thought he may have been sniffing petrol that night - a problem he had many years previously - and had also been smoking, and the fire may have happened that way.

Judge Fitton told Williams the risks had been great. The fire was in a flat in a terrace, set at night when people were asleep, and he did nothing to alert anyone.

"That is a planned and deliberate act in my judgement," said Judge Fitton, adding that it was not explainable by any form of accident.

"The consequences could have been terrible.

"You have never given anyone the satisfaction of understanding why you did it.

"Were you doing it to take your own life? You say not. I am not sure you are telling the truth.

"It shows that you do not really yet have the honesty and courage to own up to what you did, and come to terms with it."