Jail for man who set woman alight

A man who turned his partner into a "human fireball" when he found out she was cheating has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The 42-year-old doused her in petrol and set her alight in Hackney, east London, in July, the Old Bailey heard.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was left permanently disfigured after the attack and may need reconstructive surgery.

Her ex-partner denied attempted murder but was convicted of GBH with intent.

The court heard that the victim suffered life-threatening burns to her face, neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands

'Unbelievably vicious'

The man had threatened to set fire to his partner once before, when he found texts messages on her mobile phone from another man and found she was having a relationship with him.

He had poured petrol over and stood beside her flicking a lighter, but had then expressed remorse.

I have flashbacks of him standing there doing absolutely nothing to help me Victim statement

She had decided not to involve the police as she did not believe he would ever actually hurt her, the court heard.

Judge David Rennie said: "Sadly she could not have been more wrong, because on the 23 July you made a shocking and chilling decision that would have catastrophic effects, and would ruin her life forever.

"This was an unbelievably vicious and cruel thing to have done to another human being, no matter what the motivation."

In a victim impact statement, part of which was read out in court, she said she still experiences flashbacks of the attack, which had ruined her life.

In it she said: "I can't sleep at night. I have flashbacks of [him] standing there doing absolutely nothing to help me. There are days where I feel so low I want to end my own life."

The judge said he took into account the fact that the defendant was suffering from clinical depression at the time of the attack.

But the jury rejected his claims that he was merely trying to teach her a lesson and did not mean to set her alight.