Man threatened to burn down his Hartlepool home after hearing voices in the loft

Jamie Buglass’s mother called police on the night of August 30 because of his agitated state which she thought was caused by him taking cocaine, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Police even took him up into the loft of the house in Tiverton Grove, Hartlepool, to try to reassure him that there was nobody there, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.

A psychiatrist later reported that the voices haunting Buglass, 32, were likely to be caused by drug abuse.

The judge in the case told Buglass ‘you have got to clean yourself up, sort yourself out and you are the only person who can do that’ – before deferring sentence until next year to give him the opportunity to get off drugs.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said that the police seemed to have dealt with him in a “very compassionate” way.

Miss Atkinson said that when the officers took Buglass outside he threatened to burn the property.

She added: “He said that he had turpentine and a lighter, and when he tried to go into the property the officers had to restrain him.”

He was in breach of a 10 months jail sentence suspended for 24 months which was imposed in October 2017 for threatening to burn down his girlfriend’s mother’s house.

Miss Atkinson said: “He said that he was not joking and he said that he was going to drag her out and set her alight.”

Mr Constantine said that Buglass had used cocaine to deal with his problems after he rejected all the drugs that had been prescribed for him, because of the side-effects.

”Quite simply he wants a chance to prove himself.”

Judge James Spencer QC told Buglass: “It is necessary for you to get yourself sorted out, to get your drugs sorted.

“First of all you have got to clean yourself up, sort yourself out and you are the only person who can do that.

“Keep off the illicit drugs so that you won’t hear voices in the future.”

The judge deferred sentence on him for six months until May 22 next year after he pleaded guilty to threatening to damage or destroy property and obstructing police.