A DRUNKEN arsonist who torched his ex-partner’s flat had to be rescued by police who bravely carried his unconscious body from the burning property.

Spurned Dillon Irwin, 20, who had barricaded himself in, caused £30,000 of damage in the early-hours blaze, Burnley Crown Court heard.

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Irwin had earlier bombarded Samantha Milliken with messages of love, before breaking into her home through a skylight and threatening her with violence before she escaped.

He then set about wrecking her home before starting the fire.

Nobody was injured in the blaze, but it killed Ms Milliken’s beloved cat and left her distraught, the court was told.

When Irwin, who was jailed for four years and eight months, was later questioned, he claimed he had wanted to kill himself and said he didn’t know how he had started the fire.

Irwin, of Melrose Avenue, Burnley, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, on July 19.

Prosecutor Joseph Allman said Ms Milliken was the proprietor of Posh Paws Tattoos on Accrington Road in the town and had rented the flat above.

On or about July 14 or 15, the defendant rang Ms Milliken, wanting to borrow her keys to get into the flat. She refused and he rang later to say he had been in and apologised.

Mr Allman said it transpired the defendant had broken a skylight window to gain access.

Irwin then texted Miss Milliken saying he loved her. However she wanted to move on and deleted him from her Facebook profile.

In the early hours of July 19, Ms Milliken was in bed at the flat when she received a 5am message from the defendant saying he loved her and telling her he was on his way round.

She replied telling him not to come, but very shortly after he arrived, banging on the front door.

Ms Milliken could tell he was drunk and told him she was calling his mother to come and get him.

Irwin started climbing towards the roof and Ms Milliken ran upstairs towards the boarded-up skylight.

Irwin took the boarding off, threatened her and as she ran downstairs to unlock the back gate, he got into the flat and chased her.

She locked a steel gate at the bottom of the stairs to stop Irwin from following her, he shook it and as Ms Milliken tried to open the back gate, his mother pulled up.

Ms Milliken opened the secure gate and the defendant screamed at her and threw her television on the floor.

She went outside, and with Irwin's mother, watched as he threw a kitchen unit through a second floor window and then climbed down a drainpipe.

Miss Milliken and Irwin's mother got in the vehicle and the defendant picked up a brick and hurled it at the car before banging on the window and car bonnet.

Irwin then ran back into the flat and his mother called the police.

Not long after, Miss Milliken saw smoke coming out of an open bedroom window.

Mr Allman said by the time officers arrived, Irwin had barricaded himself in by stacking furniture behind the secure gate. An officer got in the flat by ladder and used an extinguisher to put out the fire in the sofa.

About the same time, a colleague breached the barricade and ran up the stairs and they found the defendant collapsed on the landing. He was dragged downstairs and was carried out by several officers as the fire began to rage.

He said: “Officers were banging on doors of neighbouring houses until all of the occupants had been accounted for. A couple with a newborn baby emerged from an adjoining flat. Fortunately, nobody was injured in the fire, although Samantha Milliken's cat died and the entire episode left her distraught, especially the death of her cat."

Mr Allman said the second floor of the flat, owned by a single mother.

Irwin had three offences on his record.