Fife man who broke into stranger's home and set fire to bedroom jailed
Calum Paterson had taken ecstasy before the incident in September 2015.
A Fife man who scaled the outside of a stranger's house, broke in through a skylight, woke the occupants by running around the attic in the dead of night then started a blaze in a bedroom and leapt out the window has been jailed for more than two years.
26 year old Calum Paterson had taken an "unknown quantity" of ecstasy while out with a friend before going on his rampage.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard he first shimmied up a drainpipe on to the roof of a house in Dunfermline's Maitland Street.
He then found a perspex skylight that offered access to an attic and forced his way in - prompting his own friend who had been urging him to get down to call police.
Fiscal depute Beverly Adam told the court: "The occupants were asleep in the front bedroom but were awoken by the disturbance of the accused walking in the attic.
"They heard him climb down to the upper hallway.
"He was confronted by the male occupant while the female hid in bed.
"He appeared incoherent and was escorted to the front door and told to leave.
"The accused then locked the door and took possession of the door keys before running to an upstairs bedroom.
"He then set alight a book with a gas lighter before slamming the door shut.
"Police officers gained access after the spare front door key was found and could smell smoke emanating from the bedroom.
"Officers forced entry and observed a fire in the middle of the room spreading rapidly across the carpet.
"He was seen to open a window leading on to a single storey extension.
"He exited the building and ran down the roof and jumped into the garden.
"One officer pursued while another tackled the fire, which was emitting dense smoke.
"The accused scaled several walls and fences as he fled.
"He was then apprehended back in Maitland Street.
"He was a complete stranger to the householders."
Paterson pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, wilful fireraising and resisting arrest.
The offences were committed on September 27 last year in Maitland Street, Dunfermline.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC jailed Paterson for two years and three months.