'He needs to get out of here': Man hurls 'Molotov cocktail' through neighbour sex offender's window

A man hurled a potentially lethal 'Molotov cocktail' through the window of a convicted sex offender's flat.

Vigilante arsonist Simon Boothby, 30, objected to the man living anywhere near him, Hull Live reports. He hurled a fuel-filled bottle through the window of the victim's flat in the early hours of the morning after telling a neighbour that the man 'needs to get out of here'.

Hull Crown Court heard how the bottle burst into flames and it was only by pure good fortune that the man's girlfriend heard a fire alarm go off. She quickly woke up the intended victim, who was fast asleep, and they hurried to get themselves and the dog out of the flat.

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Stephen Robinson, prosecuting, said that the man lived at the time in an upstairs flat and Boothby lived nearby. The man had previously heard that Boothby was not happy about him living on that street.

He overheard Boothby tell a neighbour that the man 'needs to get out of here'. The man and his girlfriend had gone to bed when she was awoken by the fire alarm going off.

She woke him up as he was fast asleep. He went to the hallway and could see a glow coming from underneath the kitchen door, with smoke coming from it.

He opened the door and could see that the kitchen was ablaze, with flames two or three feet high. The man collected his dogs from the living room and made sure that they and his girlfriend went outside. He went back inside to douse the flames.

"He was able to put the fire out," Mr Robinson said. The occupier went into the kitchen later and spotted a glass bottle on the floor.

The window was broken and the curtains were destroyed by fire. "The glass bottle had been set alight and thrown through