A BURGLAR who set fire to a pizza takeaway in an attempt to destroy forensic evidence of his crime has been jailed for two years.

Matthew Harrison was said to be “off his head” on a mixture of alcohol and valium when he carried out the arson in the North Yorkshire town of Bedale.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the Belly Busters takeaway, in the Market Place, was gutted in the attack and although no one was hurt, two members of staff had lost their jobs.

At the height of the blaze eight fire engines were in attendance. The fire also caused a roof to collapse.

Harrison, 22, had entered the premises via an unlocked door and took various items including a till containing £80 cash.

He then returned in the early hours of the morning and set fire to the shop. Another man who was present with the defendant was subsequently cautioned after he admitted burglary and theft.

Harrison, of Ashtree Close, Bedale, pleaded guilty to burglary and arson on June 6 and the separate theft of a boy’s bicycle the previous day.

His barrister, Simon Perkins, described Harrison’s actions as a drunken episode which arose from him trying to find food after the pubs had closed.

He said: “It was a drunken episode which rolled into a rather large snowball.”

Mr Perkins said Harrison, who had a troubled background, was in the “last chance saloon”, but could be given a chance to get his act together by serving a suspended jail sentence.

But Recorder Graham Cook said he had been given chance after chance and had received multiple court orders which he had failed to comply with.

He told him: “Having committed the burglary you decided – no doubt fuelled by drink and the drugs you had taken – to dispose of the evidence not thinking for one second about the effect it might have.”

The judge referred to a probation report which, while acknowledging that Harrison had said sorry, questioned whether he had any real understanding of his offending.

He jailed him for two years for the offences, although he will only serve half that sentence before being released.

A community order imposed on Harrison in October was also revoked.