A BLOCK of warden-controlled flats was evacuated when a man high on drink and drugs smashed up his father's home and set fire to it.

John Burns, 37, lived at the flat with his elderly father and was paid benefits to look after him, a court heard yesterday.

But after a day of drinking and taking drugs, he embarked on a wrecking spree which his barrister described as "grotesque".

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, told a judge at Teesside Crown Court: "He went from carer to pariah in the strike of one match."

Burns's father said: "I'm absolutely disgusted with what he's done. I'm devastated that all my belongings have been ruined."

Mr Burns snr - also called John - was made homeless after the blaze at Cornfields House in Normanby, near Middlesbrough.

He suffers from angina, epilepsy and vertigo, and was outside the block as his son hurled things from a second-floor window.

Police had to dodge a barrage of missiles, were forced back by intense heat and choking smoke and met a barricaded front door.

Firefighters finally forced their way into the flat and found Burns unconscious, prosecutor Emma Atkinson told the court.

He was in an induced coma for three days and had also sliced himself under his arms and severed his own Achilles' tendon.

Mr Walker said Burns was in "a narcotic haze" after taking MCat and alcohol, and encountered "complete amnesia" afterwards.

"It would appear that his primary attempt was self-annihilation at the time, rather than harm anyone around him," said Mr Walker.

"The defendant will wrack his brains, probably for the rest of his years, to try to understand why he did this."

In his statement read to the court, Mr Burns snr said: "I feel for the people living in the flats. They must have been scared.

"I cannot believe my own son would do this to me, particularly as I provided somewhere for him to stay. I was homeless.

"John threw the majority of my belongings out of the window, destroying them. I have no insurance, so what's lost is lost forever."

Burns was jailed for three years after he admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and criminal damage.

Mr Walker said Burns - a drug-user from the age of nine - wanted to apologise to his father and rebuild their relationship.

The court heard that the repair bill - for rewiring, replacing doors and windows, plastering, copper piping, radiators and paint - is £5,500.