Would-be arsonists were filmed by neighbours in Carlisle street

Neighbours of the intended victim in South Street, Carlisle, provided police with vital evidence by filming as the attackers - disguised in clown masks - forced a bottle of accelerant with a lighted rag through a hole in the front door.

One of the attackers had kicked through a door panel.

The phone-camera footage helped lead officers to Liam Gearing, 19, (below left) and his 22-year-old accomplice Harry Robinson. Both men pleaded guilty to attempting to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

Judge Nicholas Barker said the background to the offence was a disagreement over a debt allegedly owed to Gearing. 

Judge Barker accepted the victim’s account that during an earlier visit to her home, she had asked Gearing to leave - and he responded by pushing her to the ground.

Just under two hours later, Gearing returned to seek revenge, arriving on the street in a stolen Nissan car, having enlisted Robinson to help him. Both men by this stage were disguised, having donned clown masks and hoodies.

As shocked neighbours watched, the two men used a home-made "firebomb" - a bottle of accelerant with a rag inserted into it - to attack the house.

Gearing – a banned driver - had driven to the scene in a Nissan Juke, Robinson kicked a hole in the victim’s front door, and used an eight-inch-long knife to remove part of the door before the “firebomb” was lit and pushed through into hallway.

They then sped away in the Nissan. Fortunately, the bottle – thought to contain a spirit of some kind – did not explode.

Moments after the attack was carried out, a neighbour was heard to shout that somebody had "petrol-bombed" the house, though police believe the liquid in the bottle had been a spirit of some kind.

In an impact statement, the woman who lives in the property with her two children said she feared that her life was in danger. "When there is a knock on the door, I am scared it might be somebody else who has come to hurt my family."

She had thought about how much worse it might have been had the fire taken hold properly. The woman also feared that the defendants may continue to want retribution. "She feels she got lucky this time," said prosecutor Tim Evans.

"She felt it was lucky that nobody was injured or died and makes the point that there was also risk to other houses and other people."

Commenting on the decision to attack the woman's home, Judge Barker said: “It was targeted and by degrees there was some level of planning.

“I am satisfied that both of you knew the house was occupied; that [the female householder] was in the house, and possibly others.” Robinson claimed that he had little knowledge of what was about to happen.

“This to me makes not much difference,” continued the judge, “because by the time you arrive in the street you are fully participating in what took place.”  

Referring to each defendant in turn, the judge noted Gearing’s “fractured childhood”, which included school exclusions, long periods in care and drug abuse.

“I accept that you are remorseful,” said the judge but he noted that the attempted arson was far more serious than Gearing’s previous offending.

While on remand in Durham Prison, he had set fire to a part of the prison and he had been assessed as posing a high risk of harm to the public.

The judge described Robinson as “immature.” His only previous offence was an assault on an emergency worker, but he now recognised the danger he had caused to others and was remorseful.

His life was, like Gearings, unstructured and he was interested only in being intoxicated and with like-minded individuals.

“This was a revenge attack and one which you, Robinson, were aware of,” said the judge. “Had a serious fire taken hold, multiple people would have been endangered, not just the occupants, but also others.”

He jailed both defendants for 54 months. In addition, Gearing was given a 57-month driving ban for the offence of disqualified driving which he admitted.

Gearing's address has previously been given as Warwick Square, Carlisle, while Robinson has previously lived at Currock Park Avenue, Carlisle.

Read more: Carlisle thugs in 'clown masks' tried to firebomb family's home