A factory worker has been cleared by a jury of setting ablaze a mentally ill man's flat in Redditch.

Thomas Goddard laid the blame for the £23,000 fire on his former girlfriend Emma Cooke in his evidence to Worcester Crown Court.

He claimed the pair broke into Andrew Miller's home in Salters Lane to drink cider while the victim was an in-patient at a clinic after being "sectioned" under the mental health acts.

He alleged that Miss Cooke, who had been questioned by police about an earlier fire at her own home, set the blaze because she was angry with Mr Miller for the way he had treated her in the past.

Two men in other flats at the semi-detached house had to leave their beds and flee the blaze in the early hours of August 16, 2003.

Mr Goddard, aged 23, of Ash Tree Road, Batchley, was found not guilty of arson while reckless whether life was endangered by a unanimous verdict after only 30 minutes' deliberation by the jury.

Prosecutor John Attwood claimed the defendant resented Mr Miller over his eight-year friendship with Miss Cooke, branding him "mad, bad, and nothing but trouble".

Mr Attwood said the defendant lied to police over candles he took from his mother's home to the flat and his accusations against Miss Cooke, 22, were his "last refuge".

Pc Alan Healey told the court that four months before the fire, Miss Cooke's Redditch flat was badly damaged by fire.

She had an alibi because she was at her mother's home at the time. No-one was ever prosecuted.

Miss Cooke, who insisted Mr Goddard had gone into the Salters Lane flat alone and was the firebug, admitted during her evidence she had three convictions for criminal damage.

Defence counsel Tim Hills said: "Damage seems to follow her around."

She had told the police "absolute rubbish" when first questioned, saying they came upon the fire and walked past.

In a later interview, she changed her story and accused Mr Goddard.

Mr Hills said the fire victim had treated Miss Cooke badly in the past when she tried to help him, even pushing her in the chest.

She admitted in court she had been angry with Mr Miller but maintained she would never have burned his flat in revenge.