Thug jailed for setting homeless man on fire in Luton town centre in 'horrifying' New Year's Day attack

David Weir, 53, filled up a washing-up bottle with petrol and sprayed it over the victim outside McDonald's in George Street before setting him on fire with a lighter at 4pm on January 1.

Luton Crown Court heard today (Thursday) that passers by rushed to the man's aid, pulling off his clothes and patting him down to stop the flames from spreading.

Matthew Kirk, prosecuting, said: "The fire around his head was the last to be put out.

"Throughout the incident the defendant stood and watched. At a later stage, a witness said that he had to be prevented from going back to the victim."

One woman said she would never forget the sight of the victim covered in flames.

The injured man was taken to A&E and later transferred to a specialist burn unit, where it was found that he would not need surgery.

Following his arrest, Weir, of Park Street, Luton, assaulted a police officer by spitting at him while a hand swab was being taken.

In a statement, the victim described the pain as "unreal".

He said: "I have no idea why he would do this to me.

"The level of violence and aggression was so extreme I have no doubt he intended to kill me.

"One minute I'm minding my own business, the next I'm fighting for my life in a ball of flames.

"I was wearing a thermal jumper, which meant luckily the flames didn't penetrate to my torso."

The victim added that his beard had also stopped more permanent damage to his face and mouth.

Mr Kirk said that the assault had followed an incident the day previously, when Weir and a friend had instigated a fight with the victim who "punched them both to the floor".

The court was told that Weir had then bought a bottle of petrol in preparation for the attack the next day.

Weir's defence stated that he suffered from depression and a pulmonary embolism, while a psychiatric report also found that he had an alcohol behavioural disorder.

Weir, has 36 convictions for 84 offences dating back to 1989, including instances of causing actual bodily harm, wounding and several assaults on police officers.

Passing sentence, Judge Mark Bishop said: "The events of December 31 may not have gone further with police, but you ruminated over what had happened and sought to get revenge on [the victim].

"The public in my judgement must be protected from you.

"By your conduct in this offence, you have shown yourself to be capable of callous, premeditated and ruthless behaviour.

"I've no doubt you wanted to inflict as much pain and suffering as you could upon [the victim] by what you did."

Weir was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years plus five years on extended licence for causing grievous bodily harm. He must serve two thirds of his main sentence before he can be considered for parole.

For the assault on the police officer, Weir was sentenced to four months to serve concurrently. A suspended sentence of six weeks was also activated concurrently.

Detective Constable Gary Hatton, investigating, said: “We are pleased with the sentence that Weir has received today, as his deliberate actions could have seriously endangered the life of this innocent man, who has luckily made a recovery.

“Without a doubt, the heroic actions from the members of the public who rushed to help the victim saved him from further harm and we commend them for putting his safety before their own and for confronting Weir and staying at the scene until the emergency services arrived.

“We don’t tolerate such acts of violence, either on our streets or towards emergency workers, and we hope that this sentence will allow Weir time to reflect on his actions.”