A "petulant and spiteful" man who set his flat alight causing elderly neighbours to be evacuated and almost £200,000 of damage said he had wanted to "p*** off" his housing manager.

Ironically, disabled Dennis Ryan – who has one leg – also told police he started the blaze after staff at the supported living accommodation in Dover had annoyed him by banging on his door regarding a fire inspection.

Having threatened the manager, Karen Chapman, in a text that he would 'Burn down the flat for real. I don't care, you ugly w****. Bring it on', he barricaded his door with a plastic box filled with food.

Sitting in his wheelchair in his living room at Buckland Court, the drunk 59-year-old then used a lighter to ignite an envelope and waved it near a smoke alarm.

However, he said he dropped the burning paper by accident onto the sofa, causing a cushion to smoulder.

But his attempts to extinguish it failed, resulting in residents - some with dementia - being moved to safety and the fire service having to rescue Ryan, who was found in his bathroom.

He was originally charged with arson with intent to endanger life and pleaded not guilty. This was accepted by the prosecution after he admitted the less serious, alternative offence of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

At his sentencing hearing last Friday, prosecutor Zafreen Chowdhury told Canterbury Crown Court that Ms Chapman phoned police on April 23 this year concerned about Ryan.

She told the operator there had been a fire in his room four days earlier and he was threatening to start another.

But as she was mid-call, an alarm started ringing in the background and the housing manager shouted “he's done it!”.

Ms Chapman and a colleague then ran upstairs to the second floor of the building in Roosevelt Road, went to Ryan's flat and called for him to come out but there was no answer.

"With the smoke getting thicker and the alarms sounding, the staff then attempted to evacuate elderly residents from several flats," said Ms Chowdhury.

Police, paramedics and four fire engines attended. Entry was gained to the defendant's flat with a key and he was dragged to safety.

"While in the rear of an ambulance, he said 'I hold my hands up. It was intentional. I did it but it wasn't my intention to hurt innocent people'," the prosecutor added.

Ryan was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation before being interviewed by police.

"He accepted he was intoxicated and annoyed at the staff banging on his door regarding a fire inspection," explained Ms Chowdhury.

"He went to see the manager and became more annoyed so decided to burn his flat down and kill himself, barricading the front door with a large, plastic box to stop staff gaining entry to his flat.

"He said he was sitting in his wheelchair, picked up an envelope, used a lighter to set it alight and waved it near the fire alarm before dropping it by accident onto the sofa causing a cushion to smoulder.

"He tried to put it out but the fire became worse. He said his intention was to 'p*** off the manager' and to ‘scare her'."

The arson, described by the judge as having been committed in revenge, caused £191,500 in damage to the building and personal loss to some of the 42 residents.

One with dementia was also said to have suffered a deterioration in his condition after he had to move home.

Phil Rowley, defending, said the offence took place against a background of binge-drinking and grievance.

But at the suggestion of it being a revenge attack, the lawyer told the court: "The defendant felt strongly that those words reduce what was quite a complex situation.

"He felt he had raised genuine grievances as to how he had been treated in that establishment. But they cannot in any way justify what occurred."

The estimated cost of the blaze was also greeted with some surprise, with Mr Rowley saying much of the damage may have been caused by water from the sprinkler system rather than the fire itself.

A medical report prepared for sentencing concluded Ryan had symptoms of an alcohol abuse disorder and dependency syndrome resulting from long-standing misuse and leading to low mood and anger issues.

Jailing Ryan for four years, Judge Simon Taylor KC told him that although he accepted his mobility issues would make prison life more difficult, custody was inevitable.

"For some reason you took exception to Ms Chapman and made a number of insulting comments, including calling her a **** and a w****," he said.

"You caused upset to the occupants. One had to move home, he didn't have the benefit of contents insurance and his dementia deteriorated. Others had their difficult lives disrupted.

"It was a revenge attack motivated by spite and petulance, and nothing else."