A paranoid schizophrenic who started a fire which forced an 83-year old great grandmother and her son to jump from an upstairs window of their home has been jailed for life.
Peggy Wright, affectionally known as the "Peggy Mitchell of her street", in reference to the former EastEnders landlady, was fatally injured in the fall in Birmingham.
Her son Andrew France, 53, collected the six-stone pensioner before he jumped with her in his arms as the flames tore apart their home in Lapworth Grove, Balsall Heath, on April 18 last year, BirminghamLive reported.
Mark O'Brien had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility, arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and grievous bodily harm.
However, he must serve a minimum of nine years in custody before being considered for parole.
Mr O'Brien started the fire after claiming he had been shouted at and branded a paedophile. However, on his arrest in Birmingham city centre, he told police: "F*** sake think I got the wrong door."
Birmingham Crown Court heard how Edmund Vickers, prosecuting, said the defendant had lived in a house of multiple occupancy on Lapworth Grove for around three weeks before the fire.
And on April 18 in the morning, he had claimed to a neighbour that someone during the night had been shouting and screaming at him calling him a paedophile. The neighbour had heard no such shouting.
Mr France, who lived at the address with his mother, had gone to bed the previous evening but they were soon awoken with flames coming up the stairs.
And after opening a bedroom window, Mr France took his fragile mother in his arms and they both jumped to the ground below, suffering serious injuries.
The 83-year-old was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 10.50am but her injuries were unsurvivable and she tragically died at 11pm.
Mr France also suffered serious injures and would be mentally scarred by the ordeal, said Mr Vickers.
Mr O'Brien was arrested sitting on the steps outside Wagamama at around 2pm. In passing sentence Judge Paul Farrer QC said that before committing the offences O'Brien had bought petrol from a petrol station and a disposable lighter.
The court heard how he had started six fires along a fence before pouring the petrol through the victim's letter box and then setting light to it.
He said: "It was a terraced two storey property. Mr France and his 83-year-old mother were asleep in their bedrooms. The fire spread rapidly through the hallway and went up the stairs there by trapping them on the first floor."
Both had suffered severe burns and that Ms Wright suffered burns to 27 per cent of her body.
The judge said: "You made no attempt immediately afterwards to tell anybody what you have done.
"Ms Wright was a devoted mother and grandmother and was much loved by those who knew her and her family are devastated by her death.
"It is an aggravating feature that Ms Wright was 83, weighed six stone and was asleep at the time and it follows she was particularly vulnerable.
"This offence involved a significant degree of planning and the use of a highly dangerous weapon. You have suffered from auditory hallucinations for many years.
"Your psychosis is a long term condition and you are likely to remain a danger to the public for the foreseeable future."
The judge said Mr O'Brien would begin his sentence at the Tamarind centre where he is being treated but would be transferred to prison if it was believed he no longer needed to be treated.
Andrew Smith, defending, said O'Brien suffered from an "overwhelming psychotic episode" at the time of the offence, adding: "His mental illness directly drove the commission of criminal offences."
