A PENSNETT man has been jailed for more than four years after setting fire to a car parked feet away from a house in a "revenge attack" after he and his girlfriend were thrown out of a birthday party.

Builder John Dalloway, of Tansey Green Road, had downed a cocktail of drink and drugs and he knew there were people inside the property, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Judge Barry Berlin told the 30-year-old, whose criminal record included four previous offences of criminal damage, that he knew the car was "likely to explode like a bomb" and it was clear he posed a significant risk of causing harm in the future to members of the public.

The judge said Dalloway, who had drunk one-and-a-half bottles of vodka and used cocaine, had given no thought to the devastation that could have resulted.

He said: "You decided to teach them all a lesson for the slight you and your girlfriend suffered at their hands. This was a revenge attack."

There was a "sinister" aspect to the incident - he told Dalloway who had gone to buy petrol and a lighter after being ejected from the 21st birthday party being held in the Woodcross area of Wolverhampton.

The judge said: "You doused the car in petrol and you set fire to it. You knew there was a risk the fire could spread to another parked car and the house.

"You had not got the slightest worry about that at the time because you were under the influence of various substances."

Dalloway, who admitted arson and being reckless as to whether life was endangered, was plainly a man who had problems when he used drink and drugs - concluded the judge who sentenced him to four years and three months in prison.

John Roe, defending, said Dalloway was full of remorse for his behaviour and had struggled to understand just why he did what he did and he told the court: "He is disgusted with himself. It was madness."

Mr Roe said Dalloway had drunk to excess and used drugs and there had been a dispute at the party involving his girlfriend - and he added: "He thought she had been assaulted and he knows there is no excuse at all for what followed."

The judge further extended Dalloway's licence on his release from prison by a further two years because of the danger he posed to the public.

The court was told that in a victim impact statement the householder told police the consequences of the car fire could have been far more serious.