A Qatari oil executive has been jailed for ten years after he flew to Britain to carry out a revenge arson attack on his exgirlfriend.

Meshal al-Sawaidi, who is related to the Qatari ruling family, was furious when his British ex-lover rejected him and devised a plot to burn down the Lustleigh home where she had taken refuge.

He worked as a fire safety expert in the oil industry and used his knowledge to start an inferno which left home owner Mrs Carole Manniex and the 31-year-old woman trapped inside the burning house at Pethybridge.

They escaped by jumping out of first floor windows into the arms of hero neighbour Mark Halliday, who ran to the rescue after hearing their terrified pleas for help.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court commended his courage and the swift police work which enabled al-Sawaidi to be arrested at Paddington as he headed back to Heathrow to take the first flight to Qatar.

Al-Sawaidi, 44, who had been staying at the Queens Hotel, Newton Abbot, denied arson with intent to endanger life but was found guilty in less than two hours at the Crown Court and jailed for ten years.

Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, told him: 'You have been convicted on the clearest and strongest evidence. You were enraged by jealousy and by fury when your former partner made it clear she could not continue to live in Qatar.

'You yourself broke off the relationship but then, with jealousy and hatred in your heart, you came to England intent on causing her harm.

'By the time you arrived in Devon your intention was to set fire to the home where she was staying to endanger her life and that of her host.

'They lived in a remote house in the scattered village of Lustleigh on the edge of Dartmoor. You demonstrated your intent by arriving without contacting anyone.

'As soon as you arrived you set about equipping yourself for this dreadful crime. You went to Tesco to purchase a large quantity of white spirit to use as an accelerant and went to reconnoitre the area.

'You went back later having equipped yourself with dark clothing and waited until dark in an area which was said to be almost pitch black.'

Said the judge: 'You went with your white spirit and opened the catflap while the occupants were upstairs and poured or squirted in the white spirit, knowing from your own employment as a firefighter the extreme danger you were going to cause.

'Having set light to it you cause an inferno of flames and the smoke was so intense the people inside had to escape out of windows.

'Your former partner dropped 15 feet to the ground and was extremely lucky not to suffer physical injury. Mrs Manniex had to slide down a flat roof to the ground.

'You left a trail of evidence which you did little to conceal. I conclude this fire was certainly planned. You thought you could get away with it and escape back to London and be on a plane to Qatar before it was detected. Fortunately you failed.

'It is clear there was planning and the motive was revenge. You caused severe damage to the property which is put at more than £150,000.

'What you did was extremely dangerous and the two victims must have been terrified. They were placed in a potentially life threatening situation and while fortunately they did not suffer physical injury, they have suffered very severe psychological consequences.'

The judge commended Mr Halliday and the officer in the case DC John Frost for his successful investigation.

During a nine-day trial the jury heard how al-Sawaidi met the victim when she was working as a public relations writer and language teacher in Qatar in 2011.

They started a relationship which was interrupted when she fled the country in December 2012 after being fined under immigration laws for changing jobs without permission.

She came to Britain and went to stay at the house on Dartmoor where al-Sawaidi visited her in January and March, staying in local hotels. He wanted her to go back to Qatar and marry him but she was worried about being trapped there.

He broke off the relationship in April 2013 but then tried to contact the woman repeatedly, leading her to tell him that it was over. He then started sending threatening messages accusing her of seeing other men and calling her a liar and a cheat.

He flew to Britain secretly on May 1, took a night train to Newton Abbot, booked into the Queens Hotel and hired a car.

He was trapped after leaving a trail of evidence. He was caught on CCTV in Tesco buying the white spirit and dark clothing and left a price tag from a hoodie top in the field entrance near the house where he had waited for nightfall.

A farmer spotted his car and police later recovered receipts from his hotel linking him with the Tesco purchases. They also found rubber tubing, clips, four rubber suckers, and screwdrivers which he may have used to create a makeshift pump and nozzle.

Victim impact statements and psychologists' reports showed both survivors suffered serious effects, with the ex-girlfriend diagnosed as suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and racked by nightmares and flashbacks.

Al-Sawaidi claimed he bought the white spirit to clean his car and had come to Devon to seek a reconciliation but changed his mind after looking in has hotel mirror and becoming embarrassed by his baldness.

He told the jury he decided he should return to London for hair restoration treatment before he tried to contact his ex partner again. He blamed a translation programme on his mobile phone for texts in which he told her he hated her and would never forgive her.