A FORMER homeless man has been jailed for three years after starting a fire near a city centre nightclub.

Michael Corcoran, who was homeless at the time of the offence, set fire to his belongings in Frewin Court, near the entrance to Plush nightclub, at about 10.45pm on April 3 this year.

The 37-year-old claimed he had been looking through his things whilst playing with a lighter and the fire had started accidentally.

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(Image: Marlon Williams)

Two fire engines put out the blaze which eyewitnesses described as having ‘high flames’.

Corcoran, of Walton Street, Oxford, was arrested and charged with one count of arson with recklessness to endanger life.

He was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (August 8) to three years imprisonment.

(Image: Marlon Williams)

During the sentencing, it was heard that Corcoran had been released from a ‘substantial prison sentence’ a month prior to the incident and had been sleeping rough in the doorway near Plush nightclub.

He was caught on CCTV rifling through his belongings, as well as his friends, before a fire started smouldering.

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It was the Crown’s case it had been started deliberately as Corcoran sent a text following the blaze to a friend reading: “Your stuff is on fire.”

However, Corcoran interrupted the sentencing, saying: “It was my stuff, why would I set fire to it? It was reckless but it was accidental.

“I don’t deny responsibility for it, innit, but I didn’t go there with no intent and to set stuff on fire.” [sic]

He explained he had been cooperating with the terms of his release from prison and attending probation hearings.

(Image: Ed Nix)

“It’s the first time I’ve done that,” he said. “Normally, I  go straight on the run. It was the first time I abided and then four weeks later this happened and it is the worst luck in the world.

“I apologise for what happened, do you know what I mean, but it was a sheer accident.” [sic]

After his arrest, Corcoran was remanded to serve the rest of his previous sentence until February 2027.

His three-year sentence for arson will run concurrently alongside his current sentence.

Sentencing him, Judge Maria Lamb said: “Your very reckless behaviour that night ended up in a fire taking hold in an alleyway.

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“You can see the ferocity of the flames when they take hold. It seems to me there was a risk of substantial damage being caused and indeed there was.

“This took place near a public amenity so there was the potential life endangerment of a number of people.”

She said ‘mercifully’ the nightclub was closed that evening and no one was injured.