A jilted mum who tried to blow up a house in revenge at being dumped by her boyfriend has had her jail term cut on appeal.

Pearl D’Souza, 40, lit a gas pipe at the semi-detached home in Keats Corner, Canterbury, after telling her ex he would never see her again.

But despite planning suicide, troubled D’Souza said she was “freaked out” by the flame and ran to get help from a neighbour.

In June last year, she was jailed for 18 years, with an extended licence of four years, at Canterbury Crown Court.

But last Wednesday, after an appeal by her lawyers, three top judges said the sentence was too tough and cut D’Souza’s custodial term to 16 years.

Appealing against the sentence, her barrister, Daniel Pawson-Pounds, had described the incident as a “spontaneous act” in the heat of the moment.

The Court of Appeal heard D’Souza had rowed with her partner on April 17, 2014, and he had told her it was over.

She was upset and desperate for it to continue and became abusive.

The following day, she pulled out the gas pipe from a cooker in the house and set it alight.

But she then immediately ran next door to get help. “What have I done?,” she said.

She admitted the arson was an act of revenge. She planned to blow up the house, killing herself and anyone else there.

She pleaded guilty to reckless arson and three counts of attempted murder and was handed the 18-year term.

Her lawyers argued the sentence was too long because the crown court judge had taken too high a starting point before making a reduction to reward her guilty plea.

Giving judgment, Mrs Justice McGowan said that, although D’Souza was under great stress, she had committed serious offences.

“This was a wicked and utterly selfish act,” she said.

But the judge had taken too high a starting point for the sentence and it would have to be cut to 16 years, she added.