Women Who Urinated And Set Fire To Homeless Man’s belongings Jailed

A woman who urinated on a homeless man’s belongings before her friend set them on fire has been jailed.

Nicola King, 23, handed a lighter to 25-year-old Jerely Evans so she could burn bedding in the doorway of a closed shop in Portsmouth. King, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to arson at an earlier hearing. Evans, of Havant, previously pleaded guilty to arson and criminal damage and served a four-month jail sentence.

Jailing her for four months at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court, Judge Anthony Callaway said it was “a cruel act on a vulnerable and isolated man”. King, who claimed in court that she had only a minor role in the attack, wept as the sentence was passed.

CCTV captured King relieving herself before the pair started the fire in Commercial Road at about 07:00 BST on 9 April. Fire fighters, alerted by customers in a nearby restaurant, managed to put out the blaze before it could spread inside the building, although the heat cracked several shop windows.

In a statement the victim, named Roy, said: “Everything I own was in the entrance of that doorway. I can’t stress how gutted and sad I am for this loss. I have literally lost everything.”

Addressing King, who wept in the dock, judge Mr Callaway said: “You and the co-defendant both approached Mr Ransom. It was you who abused him, it was you who urinated on his property, it was you who put items of his in a bin, on not one but two occasions.”

“As far as the arson is concerned it’s perfectly obvious to me that both of you, both of you, have perpetrated that cruel act on a vulnerable, isolated gentleman.”