AN Alcester man who set fire to his former partner's Cradley Heath home while she was inside with her six-year-old daughter has been locked up for 10 years.

The woman woke up to find Daniel Watkins, aged 34, in the house after she ended their relationship.

He told her: "I am going to set this alight and you are going to burn in hell for what you did to me."

The mother who cannot be named for legal reasons managed to lower her daughter down from an upstairs window after Watkins had fled from the scene, said Howard Searle, prosecuting.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that she managed to get out of the Chapelhouse Lane property just as the emergency services arrived to tackle the blaze on June 3 this year.

Mr Searle said neither the mother or her daughter were injured but they had both suffered nightmares as a result of the terrifying incident.

In a victim impact statement she later told police officers: "He knew that my daughter was the only way he could hurt me and he had clearly determined to in the most severe way imaginable."

Watkins of Smiths Close admitted two charges of arson with intent to endanger life and Judge James Burbidge QC ruled the offence was so serious only a substantial prison sentence was appropriate

At an earlier hearing Watkins had pleaded not guilty to two charges of attempted murder and those pleas had been accepted by the prosecution.

Mr Searle said Watkins and the woman had been in an on-off relationship and when it finally came to an end he sent her a threatening message.

She went to live for a short time at her mother's home because she was concerned for her safety before going back to the house in Chapelhouse Lane.

It was not long afterwards she awoke to find Watkins inside the property and after he started the fire he quickly fled

from the scene.

The mother, added Mr Searle, was able to rush to her daughter's bedroom and she got her out of the house, dialled 999 to alert the emergency services and also shouted out for help from neighbours,

Watkins told the court he was full of remorse for what happened adding, "I hope I can get help. I am sorry for the family."