A North Yorkshire husband who set fire to the family's Harrogate home so his wife got nothing from a divorce settlement would have gone on to murder her had he not been "shopped", a judge said.

Gordon Irving, aged 45, was jailed for a total of seven years at York Crown Court, after the jury found him guilty of making threats to kill his wife, Carolyn, following the collapse of their nine-year marriage.

Irving, of Mafeking Street, in the spa town, had, on the day of his trial, admitted arson at the matrimonial home in the town's Woodfield Close a year ago in which he caused damage estimated at £35,000.

But he denied he recruited a man to help him murder Carolyn, a nurse and the mother of four children, last June.

Judge Peter Charlesworth told Irving that his threats to kill had "many chilling aspects".

Carolyn, who had listened to the entire case from the public gallery, said afterwards: "Now I can get on with the rest of my life.

"The divorce from my husband took a back seat as all this was going on, now I intend to carry on with it.

"I am happy the sentence he got is the one he deserved."