A man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for risking the lives of others in his bid to kill himself.

Daniel Caple, 23, drank two or three litres of cider and took eight paracetamol tablets in an attempt to kill himself on February 4, said Catherine Duffy, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

When it failed, he started a fire in his ground floor flat. But as smoke filled his living room, he panicked and left.

Dog walker Margaret Buckley won praise from the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst for her courage in mounting a rescue bid. She passed the flat as she walked her pet and saw the smoke and a window at an odd angle.

She raised the alarm and tried to get inside in case there was someone in the flat who needed rescuing. The heat of the fire broke the internal glass of the double glazed window and melted plastic items in the room.

Unknown to Mrs Buckley, the flat was empty because Caple had already fled to his aunt’s without warning other people who lived in the same building about the fire, said Miss Duffy.

It cost City of York Council £10,000 to £15,000 to repair and clean the flat in Ganton Place, Dringhouses.

Caple pleaded guilty to arson, being reckless as to whether life should be endangered.

Judge Ashurst told him: “Happily in this case, other residents in that block were not in fact put at risk because of the attention of Mrs Buckley who raised the alarm and very bravely sought to make inquiries as to whether you were still in the flat, such was her concern.

“You lost sight of the risk you were creating for other people. It is a serious aspect that when you lit this fire simply left the property. You didn’t raise the alarm.

“That is an entirely selfish thing you did.”

For Caple, Taryn Turner said: “It is very sad that a 23-year-old man finds himself in the position this young man does.”

He had had very little work since leaving school and his life was aimless.

His actions on February 4 put him in hospital and for a time he had been on anti-depressants.