A MAN left depressed by his Army experiences built a fire on his lounge carpet and lay down to die, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Wardens at Kevin Stevenson's sheltered accommodation, however, phoned police and he was rescued by a fireman.

Watch Commander James Richards crawled beneath the smoke level to pull 52-year-old Stevenson to safety, said Adam Western, prosecuting.

Stevenson's synthetic jacket melted on him but he was not badly hurt. There was minor damage to the flat but it cost hundreds of pounds to repair.

Stevenson, who pleaded guilty to arson while reckless whether life was endangered, was given a two-and-a-half year community rehabilitation order.

He had lived in the ground floor flat in York Street, Kidderminster, for three years before the fire on March 29 this year, said Mr Western, and had told people that he intended to kill himself.

He repeated this intention after being arrested by police.

Michael Aspinall, defending, said Stevenson was affected by the horrors he had seen while serving in the Rhodesian Army at the time of independence in the late 1970s.

He had never been treated for the stress.

It was a futile attempt made on the spur of the moment to kill himself.

He had spent the equivalent of a 16-month prison sentence while on remand and had responded well to treatment.

Judge Bruce Coles said Stevenson's actions could have resulted in someone being killed but he accepted he was suffering from a psychiatric illness at the time.