SELINA BEGUM – HULL Teen Set Her Own Flat Ablaze After Break-Up With Boyfriend …

❌SELINA BEGUM – HULL❌

Teen Set Her Own Flat Ablaze After Break-Up With Boyfriend

A young Hull woman who torched her own flat after a furious row with her boyfriend narrowly avoided prison when a judge ruled she needed help rather than a cell.

Selina Begum, 18, of Woodbine Close, Hull, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered after the dramatic blaze on August 21, 2021. The court heard she started the fire in the bedroom of her flat following the breakdown of what was described as a “volatile” six-month relationship.

Hull Crown Court was told Begum had been on a video call with her ex shortly before the incident. After he told her he no longer loved her, she allegedly held a lighter to the bed for more than an hour before flames erupted.

Her ex tried frantically to beat out the fire with his coat before fleeing the house on Hutt Street, off Spring Bank, around midnight. Moments later, Begum threatened to harm herself, telling him: “I’ll set fire to myself and the flat.”

Prosecutor Claire Holmes said the blaze quickly spread to curtains and could easily have trapped nearby residents. Firefighters arrived within minutes, evacuated adjoining properties and extinguished the flames before anyone was hurt.

When police arrived, Begum immediately confessed, telling officers: “It’s all my fault — I tried to set my flat and myself on fire.”

Residents later told police they had been terrified by the smoke and feared they might not escape. “Multiple people were in danger and it was in a domestic context,” Ms Holmes said.

The court heard Begum had no previous convictions, though she’d once been cautioned for burglary of non-dwelling premises in 2019. A psychiatric report showed she was suffering from a mental-health disorder at the time and had endured “significant neglect” as a child, leaving her with deep-rooted emotional difficulties.

Defence barrister David Godfrey said Begum was “full of remorse” and had apologised to neighbours. “She was in a relationship with her first proper boyfriend, and when he left she simply didn’t know how to cope,” he told the court.

Judge Recorder Monteith QC described the case as tragic. “It was a volatile relationship, and when it ended, she acted poorly,” he said. He added that it was “through luck” that no one was killed, as nearby residents could have been trapped.

Begum wept as she told the court: “My actions were horrible from the start. If someone had been hurt, I couldn’t live with myself. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done, and I’m truly sorry.”

Taking her remorse and mental-health problems into account, the judge imposed a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, plus 250 hours of unpaid work and 40 rehabilitation activity days.

Recorder Monteith told her: “Had you stayed in that flat, you wouldn’t be standing before me today. The only reason no one died was sheer luck.”