A DISABLED woman who set herself alight at a petrol station in Canterbury is making a good recovery in the burns unit of East Grinstead Hospital in west Sussex.

Arlene MacManus, 38, a mental health patient at St Martin's Hospital in the city, became a human fireball when she covered her clothes in petrol at Canterbury Motor Company on Tuesday last week and flicked a cigarette lighter.

Firefighter Paul Donovan tackled her to the ground within seconds and smothered the flames to save the garage forecourt from becoming an inferno.

It was the second time Miss MacManus, of Russett Road on the Spring Lane estate, had dramatically harmed herself. Five years ago she fell from the former Watling Street multi-storey car park, suffering injuries which left her in a wheelchair for life.

Health officials say Miss MacManus will be reassessed when she leaves the West Sussex hospital to decide whether her psychiatric treatment should continue as a voluntary inpatient or as a sectioned patient under the Mental Health Act.

Isabelle Woodruff, of East Kent NHS Trust, said: "She is recovering well in hospital and is likely to be discharged into a mental health inpatient facility where she will be reassessed. She will be treated according to what that assessment concludes."

A friend who has visited Miss MacManus regularly during periods of residence at St Martin's Hospital said she often felt very depressed but could be bright company and sociable.

"Arlene talked about what had happened at the car park. She had a lot of pain and misery from the time of the fall and had to be taken to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital for appointments about her disability as a result.

"She is a delightful person who can be bright, but she is obviously depressed and is anguished about her situation."

Miss McManus lived in Woodville Close in the Wincheap area of Canterbury before moving to a bungalow in Russett Road with her mother, Jean, several months ago.