A MAN wept in the dock at Worcester Crown Court after he was cleared of starting a fire in a Kidderminster block of flats which led to the death of a young mother.
Mark Moat, of The Horsefair, had pleaded not guilty to manslaughter following the fire which caused 22-year-old Sandra Nowocinska to inhale toxic fumes and led to her death in hospital four days later.
Her five-year-old son survived. Moat was also found not guilty of arson reckless whether life would be endangered.
The verdicts were unanimous but he was found guilty by a 10-1 majority of setting alight a chair in a passageway at the rear of the flats. He had already admitted threatening to destroy property.
Moat, who lived alone in a block of six flats, maintained that he was asleep in bed when the fire broke out in a wheelie bin on the ground floor. He was awakened by a loud explosion and he was carried to safety through the smoke by firemen.
The jury, reduced to 11 because of the illness of one member, heard that the bin was the cause of the blaze but no explanation was given on how it had been set alight.
A lighted cigarette from a passer-by was discounted and there was no evidence of an accelerant.
Moat, aged 43, will be sentenced on March 4 after a probation report ordered by Judge Robert Juckes QC.
He remains in custody and his counsel, Abigail Nixon, pointed out that he had already spent nearly 12 months in prison, the equivalent of a two-year sentence.
She had submitted that the prosecution had presented little evidence to show how the blaze had been started. She suggested it could have been started by drug dealers operating from a nearby cafe.
Prosecutor Rachel Brand QC said that on the evening of the fire on November 27, 2014, a drunken-sounding Moat had dialled 999 saying he had committed a burglary. There was a history of calls he had made when he was drunk.
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