Jail for man who set ablaze student dressed as sheep
By IANSWednesday, May 19, 2010
LONDON - A Briton who set fire to a student dressed a sheep as he was “trying to get a laugh” has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Jason Whatley, 39, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he admitted that he set ablaze Stuart Mitchell, 19, in October last year, The Telegraph reported Wednesday.
Mitchell’s cotton wool fancy dress costume quickly went up in flames during a night out at a pub in Leeds.
Whatley used a cigarette lighter to set alight the costume of Lycra tights and a top covered with hundreds of cotton wool balls.
The court was told that Mitchell suffered burns to 12 percent of his body and he needed a number of skin graft operations.
“As he (Mitchell) was running to the car park, he says the fire was on his back and he could feel and see flames shooting past his shoulders, on to his front, his arms and legs, spreading across his body, leading to excruciating pain.
“(He) describes being able to smell his own hair burning, which was particularly distressing to him,” prosecutor Abdul Iqbal was quoted as saying.
Whatley later told officers: “I was trying to get a laugh. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
