A MAN threatened to burn down the home of his estranged partner’s mother before dragging his ex from her flat and setting her alight.

Jamie Buglass flew into a rage when the woman refused to drop charges against him on other allegations, Teesside Crown Court was told.

The 30-year-old was said to have “gone mental” during a phone call – which he was not supposed to have made because of his bail conditions.

He shouted: “I’m coming up to your mam’s now. I’m stopping off at the petrol station on the way. I’m going to burn your mam’s house down.

“I’m not joking, I’m not messing about,” he added menacingly. “I’m going to drag you out and set you alight. I’ve lost my head.”

The woman ended the call and rang the police, and later said: “I felt emotionally drained afterwards. I felt scared he would come to my flat.

“I cried after the call. I closed the curtains to make it look like I was not there. I am scared for my safety and the safety of my family.

“I don’t feel safe in my flat. I did think it was a genuine threat that he would burn the house down. I am not going to drop my complaint.”

Buglass rang the woman back within an hour, and told her: “I’m not going to do it. My head’s all over the place. I’m cracking up lately.”

His barrister, Stephen Constantine, said: “He is insistent that there was no attempt or intention to try to get her to drop the charges.

“This was, Mr Buglass maintains, was something which occurred on the spur of the moment. There was no plan to act in any particular way.

“He says to the police that he lost his temper, he went mental for a short period of time, and he said things which he bitterly regretted.

“Having issued the threat, rather than pay a visit, within 50 minutes he had contacted the complainant and said ‘I don’t intend to do it’.”

Buglass, of Homer Road, Hartlepool, admitted threatening to cause damage, and was given a ten-month suspended prison sentence yesterday.

Judge Tony Briggs told him: “It was quite clearly a terrifying business for the complainant.”