THE lives of residents in ten flats were put at risk when a man with an alcohol problem began four separate fires, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Richard Tranter was upset after an argument with his girlfriend and a telephone conversation with his business partner.

He lit towels, a scarf and a bed in his flat in Burcot House, Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove, and threw the keys outside, leaving himself and his girlfriend Bronwyn Brookes trapped inside.

Miss Brookes managed to direct firemen to where the keys had fallen. When they got in, they found Tranter unconscious in the bathroom from smoke inhalation.

Tranter, aged 26, pleaded guilty to arson while reckless whether lives were endangered.

Sentencing him to two and half years in jail, Judge David McEvoy QC said he had no doubt that Tranter intended to take his own life in the blaze.

A psychiatrist concluded that he posed a risk of setting more fires if he did not conquer his alcohol problem.

The defendant turned firebug on April 12 this year at 3.45am inside the third storey flat he shared with Miss Brookes, said prosecutor Nicolas Cartwright.

She tried to put the fires out while Tranter locked himself in the bathroom after hurling the flat's keys through a window.

The bed was still glowing when firemen arrived and also had to be thrown outside to prevent the blaze spreading. Mr Cartwright said Tranter was heavily intoxicated and that he needed to be revived with oxygen.

Miss Brookes rectified the smoke damage and there was no claim for compensation by the local authority, which owns the block.

Kate Iliffe, defending, said Tranter, a partner in a window business, was "a troubled young man with a clear dependency on alcohol."

The fire had been a cry for help. Drink had masked a depressive illness but he had now gone through detoxification in a clinic.

Miss Iliffe said Tranter was the victim of an assault last year when he needed ten stitches. That exacerbated his drinking. She added: "He is extremely sorry for the way he acted. Luckily the fire didn't spread because of the actions of his girlfriend and the emergency services."