Man warned victim she would 'never' escape after starting fire at her home

A man who started a fire at his ex-partner’s home having warned there was “no chance” she would escape has been jailed for four and a half years.

Michal Morawski, 32, struck despite claiming he was “ill with love” for his former partner.

The victim discovered the early-hours blaze at the front door of her property in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, but was luckily able to put it out with buckets of water.

Morawski was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.

He had earlier admitted at a hearing in Edinburgh to a charge of wilful fire-raising at the property on April 27, 2023.

Judge David Young KC cut the jail-term from six years and nine months due to the guilty plea.

He also imposed a non-harassment order banning Morawski from approaching or contacting his ex for an indefinite period.

Prosecutor Lorraine Glancy KC told how the pair had an amicable split after the relationship ended.

In the hours before the fire, they had been exchanging messages.

Miss Glancy: “The conversation turned to their former relationship and Morawski declaring that he was ill with love for her.

“This then developed into him sending messages about letting go and asking her to block him, ignore him and end the friendship.”

Around 1am, she could hear her letterbox flapping and the sound of a liquid being poured which she described as barbecue lighting fluid.

Morawski was outside banging the windows.

He was shouting: “I’m going to burn the house. There will be no chance you will leave.”

She was so worried she laid buckets of water at her door.

Morawski then returned around 3.20am to carry out the threat. The victim was awoken by her smoke alarm.

The woman heard him yelling: “It is burning, it is burning.”

She then discovered the fire at her front door.

Miss Glancy: “She immediately called the emergency services before extinguishing the fire with the buckets of water that she had placed there earlier.”

Fire crews went on to detect a smell of petrol. It was concluded that had the water not been at hand, there could have been a fatality.

Morawski was later traced at his home in Fraserburgh – he claimed not to remember anything after 11.30pm that night due to the amount of alcohol he had taken.