Pearl D'Souza jailed over Canterbury fire attempted murders

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-33062083

Version 0 of 1.

A woman has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of three people in a house fire in Canterbury.

Pearl D'Souza, 38, also known as Pearl Ivy Thomas, was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court.

In September, she had pleaded guilty to three charges of attempted murder.

D'Souza had tried to take her own life, and those of three others, by ripping a gas pipe from the wall of her home and starting a fire in April 2014.

When fire crews arrived, they found the gas pipe behind the cooker in the kitchen had been disconnected and the gas had been ignited with a lighter.

She was one of four people taken to hospital suffering from burns and the effects of smoke inhalation after the fire at Keats Corner in Canterbury.

'Wicked and utterly selfish'

D'Souza was ordered to serve four years on extended licence after release from prison at the end of her sentence.

The judge described her as "wicked and utterly selfish".

Det Insp Janine Farrell, from Kent Police, said: 'Pearl D'Souza has been convicted of three attempted murders, but who can be sure of how many other potential victims were also put at risk by her deliberate and selfish actions?

'There is no doubt she intended to kill herself and the other occupants of the house that day when she ignited the gas with her lighter.

"It was only her lack of knowledge about the levels of gas required to cause an explosion that prevented fatalities in the house and in the neighbouring vicinity."