A jury has found a woman guilty of setting fire to a home which accommodates former homeless people.

Marina Harries was accused of setting fire to a chair inside her room in Divinity Road, Oxford on March 29 this year.

The multiple-occupancy home belongs to Homeless Oxfordshire, the county’s largest not-for-profit provider of accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.

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The 56-year-old was subsequently charged with one count of arson with intent to endanger life and an alternative charge or arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

After a trial at Oxford Crown Court this week, she was found not guilty of the former and guilty of the later - arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Her case has now been delayed for sentencing so psychiatric reports could be obtained.

During the trial, it was heard that  on the day of the incident, Harries had been acting ‘strangely’.

She was heard screaming at about 5.30am before throwing items around in her room.

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Others living in the home noted that she then threw a television down the stairs which other house members needed to climb over to get to their rooms.

She then set fire to some clothing and fabric left on a chair in her room before leaving the property.

A housemate heard a fire alarm go off in the communal hallway and spotted smoke coming from Harries’s door.

They rushed outside and called the emergency services. The fire was extinguished and ruled ‘likely to be non-accidental’ by the attending fire crews.

During the short two-day trial, Harries was not in attendance and did not provide a defence case for the proceedings.

It was heard that she had refused to plea to the charges, provide instruction to her counsel, comply with psychiatric reports and allow her medical history to be access.

As a result, Judge Nigel Daly entered not guilty pleas on her behalf and gave permission for her defence barrister to withdraw from the case.

He told the jury: “You may wonder why Marina Harries has decided not to come. Well, we don’t really know because she’s not really told us.

“We only know that she is refusing to attend. She can’t be arrested and brought here as she’s already in custody.

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“I will not enquire the prison staff or security personnel to use force to do so.”

He added that, as a result of her lack of compliance with the courts, the jury will not hear what her defence is for the charges.

She will be sentenced at the same court at a later date.