Law student lit a fire on roof of his home before trying to put it out with his own urine and a fridge

A drunk would-be lawyer who deliberately started a fire on the roof of his rented flat in Swansea, Wales, then tried unsuccessfully to put it out with bottles of his own urine and a fridge has been given a suspended jail term, 150 hours of unpaid work and a £1,500 bill for repairing the damage he caused. Swansea magistrates were told officers on patrol in the Mount Pleasant area of Swansea in the early hours earlier this year saw flames “eight foot high” leaping from the flat roof of the property.

The police saw 23-year-old Andre Figueiredo, who admitted arson, adding items to the fire and ignoring the officers’ calls to let them in. He later told police he had been drinking heavily, unhappy that a friend of his was moving away from the Swansea area. By the time officers managed to gain access to the flat through a rear entrance, Figueiredo was in bed in his flat pretending to be asleep – though he was fully clothed. The officers put out the flames on the roof and arrested him.



The court heard Figueiredo, who had not previous convictions, had been out drinking in Swansea’s city centre with a friend, getting back to the flat around 4am. He said he later started the fire on the roof but then tried to extinguish the flames using “bottles of urine and a fridge”. It was later discovered smoke alarms in the flat were not working. Figueiredo arrived in Wales in 2006 unable to speak English and his solicitor Matt Henson said despite the difficult circumstances he achieved a 2:1 degree in economics and last year successfully completed a law-conversion course at Swansea University.

But Mr Henson said: “Pleading guilty in this case is seriously going to dent his career path. He sees that as a substantial punishsment already, the work and effort he put in is very likely going to be scuppered in terms of applying for jobs in the near future. But he takes full responsibility for his actions. Alcohol affected him on the night in question. That is no excuse but it goes some way to explaining what happened because there seems no valid reason for what he did. It was a stupid and foolish thing to do.” Mr Henson added it was a mark of how highly his client was regarded that he was supported in court by a number of friends and relatives. He was given a 12 week jail term suspended for two years.