An arsonist who terrorised his neighbours by posting burning lavatory paper through their letterbox was caught by DNA on the toilet roll.

Gurdave Singh had a vendetta against a couple who lived next door in a block of flats and made two attempts to torch their home.

He denied the attacks to police but forensic experts were able to recover his DNA from an unburnt portion of the toilet roll.

He claimed he was shopping at the time but there was no sign of him on CCTV at the corner store.

Singh, aged 49, now of Exeter Road, Dawlish, admitted arson and was conditionally discharged by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He said it was ‘not expedient’ to punish him because he is currently being treated at Langdon mental hospital, where doctors will manage his release back into the community.

The judge imposed a five year restraining order banning any contact with the victims or from going to their home in Exeter.

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said a couple were at home in Haven Road, Exeter, on December 6, 2019, when they heard someone outside their door and saw burning paper pushed through the letter box.

They put it out and contacted the police but before they arrived, they heard Singh coming out of his next-door flat and watched through a spyhole in the door as he did the same thing.

This time he attached a toilet roll to screw and lit it before posting into their flat. 

He went back to his flat but left again shortly afterwards and went outside where police found him shouting at passing motorists when they attended the scene.

The victims made personal statements saying they were left in fear after the arson attacks and other confrontations and no longer felt safe when alone at home.

Mr Nick Lewin, defending, said Singh was suffering from a relapse into mental illness at the time and has needed prolonged treatment in the time since for psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia.

His is expected to be released from Langdon Hospital in Dawlish shortly under a procedure by which he can be recalled unless he sticks to strict conditions