Jail for woman who helped set fire to homeless man's bedding after urinating on it

A WOMAN who abused a homeless man before urinating on his bedding and helping set fire to it has been jailed.
Nicola King has been jailedNicola King has been jailed
Nicola King has been jailed

Nicola King, 23, of no fixed address, had admitted arson by passing a lighter to Jerely Evans who set fire to Roy Ransom’s bedding at the former Millets store in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, on April 9.

District judge Anthony Callaway jailed King, who has an IQ of 55, for four months branding the act ‘cruel’.

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CCTV footage played in court showed how the homeless man’s items were put in a bin.

Nicola King has been jailedNicola King has been jailed
Nicola King has been jailed

He had been approached by the pair with King giving him a £5 note but he left after they were abusive to passers-by.

It was then that the pair set fire to his bedding, running off smiling afterwards.

Addressing King, who wept in the dock, the judge said: ‘You and the co-defendant both approached Mr Ransom.

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‘It was you who abused him, it was you who urinated on his property, it was you who put items of his in a bin, on not one but two occasions.

Nicola King has been jailedNicola King has been jailed
Nicola King has been jailed

‘As far as the arson is concerned it’s perfectly obvious to me that both of you, both of you, have perpetrated that cruel act on a vulnerable, isolated gentleman.’

Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Ranson had lost most of what he owned in the fire.

In a statement he said: ‘I’m homeless, everything I own between the doorways and now most of it is gone.

‘I can’t stress how how gutted and sad I am for this loss.

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‘I have literally lost everything I own, I have no bedding, blankets, all of it has been destroyed.’

The court heard Evans, 25, of Lockerley Road, Havant, was previously jailed for four months and lost a crown court appeal to overturn the sentence.

King, who suffers from depression, psychosis and a borderline personality disorder, did not carry out the arson ‘of her own instigation’.

The court heard King has a low IQ, falling close to the level where she would not be fit to plead.

Lian Webster-Martin, for King, said her client was isolated and vulnerable herself.