Man jailed for two arson attacks on same family

Michael Trainer was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday

A man has been jailed for three years and nine months after deliberately setting fire to two different properties when members of the same family were inside.

Michael Trainer, 25, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty a day earlier to two counts of arson.

Last October, he set fire to a house on Philadelphia Gardens in Upperthorpe, then the next night targeted a house containing five people on Birch House Avenue, Oughtibridge – with a woman, 61, and a girl, 14, inside during both the attacks.

Det Con Kevin Sibley of Sheffield CID said none of those targeted were injured following Trainer's "mindless violence".

He said: "Trainer's crimes are a shocking example of the mindless violence that has no place in society.

"He had no consideration for their safety when he started those fires, and his crimes will leave a lasting impact on his victims both financially and emotionally."

The attack on the ground floor of the property in Upperthorpe took place on 18 October at 23:00 BST, while the woman and girl were upstairs.

At 22:30 on the following night, he then started a fire at the property in Oughtibridge, which had five people inside.

This included the two people targeted in his first attack, as well as a 44-year-old woman and two 22-year-old women.

Trainer was arrested on 28 October after police connected him through DNA with a bottle and brick found at the scenes.

He denied being at the scenes during his police interview and said he did not recognise the bottle that contained his DNA.

But he pleaded guilty last week to two counts of arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered.

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