A TEENAGER who started a ferocious town centre fire which caused £500,000 of damage was jailed for two years and nine months on Friday.

Teesside Crown Court was told Thomas Stephenson, 18, had been walking around Richmond, North Yorkshire, bored at 2.30am on June 6, when he went to the back of the Red Cross shop in Rosemary Lane and took unwanted donations from a wheelie bin to sell on.

Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, said Stephenson then lit paper and dropped it into a wheelie bin and left the scene, but returned a few hours later when he was told firefighters were tackling a large-scale blaze.

The fire had gone up the back wall of the charity store and entered a loft with no walls between neighbouring properties, which allowed it to rapidly spread to seven premises, including ones in Finkle Street occupied by Oxfam, Tasty Macs takeaway and the Urban Spa Retreat.

Fanned by high winds, such was the fire's ferocity shortly after butcher Stuart Hamilton reported it at 5am that ten fire crews, including one from 50 miles away, were called as well as an aerial support crew.

As firefighters dampened the flames, key routes into the town centre were closed ahead of the Saturday market.

While no one was injured in the fire, the court heard it had had devastating consequences for the affected traders, some of which had refitted their premises shortly before the blaze after saving for years.

Others have suffered crippling losses in earnings and have found their insurance did not cover the cost of all the repairs.

In impact statements to the hearing, one business owner said it was difficult to see how her firm could get back on track, while a shopkeeper called for Stephenson to be made to clear up his damage.

The trader said: "If he could see the devastation he has caused then he might appreciate the enormity of his actions."

In mitigation, Simon Perkins said Stephenson's behaviour had reflected his misuse of drugs.

Sentencing, Judge Howard Crowson said he was certain that Stephenson, of The Galleries, Richmond, had not meant to cause £500,000 of damage and had appeared to show concern for anyone in the buildings by returning to the scene.

He told Stephenson: "I do not consider you to be a dangerous offender.

"I regard you as someone who is truly sorry for what you have done."