A DISTRESSED and vulnerable young woman who was fascinated with fire and committed arson at a Bradford GP surgery whilst suffering a mental health episode has been spared jail.

Astrid Lilith Nolan was told she needed help to prevent harming herself and others in future – and that the limited care she would receive in jail was not the answer.

Nolan, of Tyson Street, Halifax, pleaded guilty to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered after an incident at Horton Park Health Centre on Horton Park Avenue in Bradford on December 6, 2022.

The fire she started led to the facility being evacuated. The cost of the damage caused was almost £14,000.

Sentencing her at Bradford Crown Court, His Honour Judge Jonathan Rose said it was “entirely by luck” that no one was injured.

His Honour Judge Jonathan Rose His Honour Judge Jonathan Rose (Image: T&A)

He added: “I am satisfied that your tendency to start fires is not because you have any wish to harm anyone else but that you wish to harm yourself.

“The best way to protect you is a way that will protect the public, and that requires you not to go to prison today.”

But he told the 23-year-old: “You have run out of chances,” and warned she could potentially face life in prison if she was to put other people in danger again.

Prosecutor Samuel Sharp told the court how Nolan was a vulnerable individual with multiple diagnoses including emotional unstable personality disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

On the day of the incident she called for help after taking an overdose and deliberately self-harming by burning herself. She was taken to Horton Park Health Centre, which houses a GP surgery, dentist, and mental health facility, where she met with a doctor who discussed her fascination with fire.

The doctor recommended an assessment under the Mental Health Act, which left Nolan distressed. Whilst waiting for an ambulance transfer to a specialist facility Nolan went to a disabled toilet where she set fire to her cardigan and handbag with a lighter.

Staff who managed to unlock the door found flames 3ft high and described them as “quite ferocious”. Nolan was kneeling next to the flames.

Mr Sharp said: “The resulting fire necessitated an urgent evacuation from the facility, which housed many vulnerable individuals with varying degrees of physical capabilities including those on crutches and needing assistance, posing a potential for very serious consequences.”

Three fire crews were called to deal with the blaze, which destroyed the disabled toilet with damage costing £13,843.

Staff who contained the fire suffered smoke inhalation and felt “shaken for days”.

Nolan accepted she had started the fire and said she had been hearing voices and hallucinating.

The court heard that she was previously handed a two-year suspended sentence in 2020 for a similar arson incident at accommodation for vulnerable people in Bradford city centre when she set fire to a room after hearing voices that told her to “cleanse the air”.

Mitigating, Ella Embleton said it was “paramount” for the safety of the public and for Nolan that she engaged with mental health treatment.

Sentencing Nolan to a two-year community order with a two-year mental health treatment requirement plus 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days, Judge Rose said: “I do not think you require punishment. I do think you require help. And I’m going to make you get help.

“You don’t want to be in prison. You don’t want to start fires. You certainly don’t want to harm someone. That’s why we’re going to do it this way.

“But if you light another fire unlawfully it will have to be life imprisonment.”