A Court has heard how a police sergeant and his family had to flee from their home after two cars in their driveway were set alight.

Bradford Crown Court was told that 34-year-old Richard Meares held a grudge against the unnamed officer and carried out the arson attack after he had drunk at least ten pints of beer.

Prosecutor Roger Thomas said Meares, of Oakworth Road, Keighley, had bought firelighters from an all-night petrol station last June and took a taxi to the officer's home in the Oakworth area.

During the early hours he started fires under the sergeant's Fiat car and a company Porsche belonging to his wife.

The officer, his wife and their two daughters - aged 16 and nine - were woken at about 1.30am by a neighbour who had spotted the fires. "Fortunately for them they were able to get out of the house," said Mr Thomas. "The officer's wife des-cribed the nine-year-old as being hy-sterical and screaming for her dad."

Mr Thomas said that as the officer tried to do something about the firelighters under his car, the Porsche exploded.

Flames from the burning cars had also spread to the house, damaging windows and plastic pipe-work.

Meares was arrested soon after the attack and denied being responsible, but his fingerprints were later found on the gate at the officer's home.

On Monday he was jailed for four years after he admitted three offences of arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

Meares' barrister Stephen Wood revealed that a few weeks before the arson attack the officer and his client were involved in an incident which was now the subject of an official complaint.

He said his client had expressed remorse for any distress or upset caused to the officer's wife and daughters and stressed that he had not made any deliberate attempt to set fire to the house.

Mr Wood added: "He accepts now, with hindsight, the dangerousness of what he did. He accepts he must go into custody for some time."

He said Meares' life had been in a downward spiral since he discovered that his wife was having an affair with his friend and business colleague, Mark Hickman. When Mr Hickman was found dead Meares was questioned about the killing, but was later excluded from the police inquiry.

"Not surprisingly in 1997 and 1998 he turned to drink," said Mr Wood. "At the time of this offence he was considerably intoxicated."

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