A YORK man who set part of a city school ablaze last summer is to be confined indefinitely in a secure hospital.

The city's crown court heard that Gary Stannard had a history of starting fires, after a jury found that he was behind the blaze at All Saints' School, which caused £43,000 damage, and also a car fire nearby.

Judge Paul Hoffman, Honorary Recorder of York, ordered him to be sent to a secure psychiatric hospital within two months, for his own welfare, and to protect the public from his actions.

"He has got a track record of fire-raising," the judge told York Crown Court. "The interim place of safety is to be Hull Prison."

Stannard, 31, started crying and rubbed one eye as he was led down from the dock to the court cells.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, will now decide where he will be confined permanently and under what conditions.

The court did not hear any further details of Stannard's fire-raising actions before July 7, 2003, when he started a blaze in a £1,750 Vauxhall Vectra belonging to Shepherd Engineering Services which was parked on Mill Mount, York.

On August 5, Stannard went to the Mill Mount site of All Saints' School and started a fire in its arts block. The blaze devastated the stand-alone building and destroyed several pieces of work by classes in the first year of their two-year public exam courses.

At the time the destruction raised fears that it might affect students' grades, until they were reassured by Bill Scriven, who is now head teacher.

On Monday, York Crown Court heard that Stannard, formerly of Wentworth Road, York, has an IQ of between 58 and 66, giving him a mental age of about seven. He has had learning disabilities all his life.

A jury decided he was unfit to stand a criminal trial after hearing differing medical opinions.

Yesterday, a second jury decided he had started the fires, after hearing evidence at a special non-criminal hearing. Their decision enabled the judge to make the hospital order, and it does not represent a conviction.

The jury saw CCTV footage taken at the time of the fire, showing a man moving in and out of the school's Mill Mount site between 7.15pm and 7.50pm on August 5.

At one point the film showed him carrying something and shortly afterwards smoke began billowing across the top of the screen. The man was then seen looking towards the smoke, changing his position from time to time. The Crown Prosecution Service said the man was Stannard.

Updated: 10:07 Thursday, June 17, 2004