'What’s the point of fighting it? I done it, I petrol bombed her house'

A "wholly innocent woman" discovered a chilling string of threatening messages and missed calls on her phone after she was targeted in a "revenge" arson attack.

'Send me away - what’s the point of fighting it? I done it, I petrol bombed her house'

A callous thug bombarded a young trainee nurse with vile messages and hurled a "petrol bomb" through her kitchen window as she slept upstairs at home.

Thomas Gilhooley, 30, of Kenyon Court, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court this afternoon after pleading guilty to arson being reckless as to whether it endangers life, after confessing to police "I done it".

Gilhooley, who was on licence from a previous prison sentence, struck shortly after 5am on August 26, 2018.

Dafydd Roberts, prosecuting, told the court Dannika Grady-Brown was asleep at home on Adelaide Court in Widnes at 5.15am when she first heard smashing glass, but thought it was outside and did not stir.

Soon a smoke alarm was blaring, but again, due to its habit of false alarms, she pulled the covers around her head and tried to sleep through it.

The smell of smoke jolted her out of bed.

A vodka bottle containing an unknown accelerant had been thrown through the kitchen window and had ignited on a worktop causing damage and blotting the ceiling with smoke – the damaged later estimated to be worth around £1,300.

Two fire engines were dispatched at 5.22am and arrived and extinguished the "small fire".

Miss Grady-Brown, whose son was fortunately staying at her mother’s at the time, checked her mobile phone and discovered a string of missed calls as well as a friend request from an unknown male who between 4.42am and 5.01am had bombarded her with a vicious string of messages, apparently directed at her former boyfriend Ryan Keeley.

Gilhooley seethed: “See you in two weeks lad, coming for you.”

Another said: “I’ll put stuff on your hair you gimp, you’re f***ed. See you soon lad.”

The vitriol turned its focus to Miss Grady-Brown – "If you give me any s*** I’ll burn her house down’, and also became vulgar.

They also became abusive and addressed directly at Miss Grady-Brown.

Officers from Cheshire police investigated and linked the name to the defendant.

Officers arrested Gilhooley and interviewed him under caution the next day on August 27, and he denied everything, claiming to have been drunk on the night of August 25 and asleep at the time.

He was released under investigation, but forensics discovered his DNA on a sock used as a wick in the neck of the vodka bottle.

When arrested and interviewed under caution again, Gilhooley admitted knowing and having had problems with Mr Keeley in prison.

He then confessed: “You know what? I done it. Yep. Send me away. What’s the point of fighting it?

“I done it. I petrol bombed her house."

Gilhooley had four previous convictions for eight offences dating back to September 2017: disorderly behaviour, assaulting a police constable, common assault, driving while disqualified, assaulting a police constable again, failing to surrender, driving without insurance, failing to comply with a community order.

Mr Roberts said the case was aggravated because it was under the influence of alcohol and drugs and was a revenge attack.

He said it was not definitely petrol in the vodka bottle, but that in any case vodka could be "considered to be fuel for a fire".

In a moving and dignified victim personal statement to the court, Miss Grady-Brown described how she had suffered anxiety and struggled to get more than one hour’s sleep a night for a long time after the arson attack.

She suffers flashbacks of seeing "orange" in the kitchen, has had to move away from home and her family, and lived in a refuge for a time with her son.

The trauma has meant she had to take a break from her studies towards a graduate nursing degree.

Judge Denis Watson, QC, asked defence barrister Julian Farley about psychiatric and pre-sentence reports for Gilhooley.

Summarising the psychiatric report, Mr Farley said: “It seems to me that the report in general terms doesn’t come to the general conclusion that a mental health disposal is appropriate or that Mr Gilhooley was suffering a mental health disorder.”

Defending his client, he said there was a "significant dispute" – a "feud" – between Gilhooley and Mr Keeley.

His client had also kicked his problems with intoxicating substances having said he was "10 out of 10 drunk" at the time of the arson attack as well as having consumed cocaine.

Mr Farley said Gilhooley was remorseful and told the court: “He describes himself as being ashamed and wishes the victim to know he’s sorry for his behaviour.”

He added “As you will see from the pre-sentence report Mr Gilhooley has changed significantly from where he was at that time.

“He’s now living in accommodation with his partner.

“He has a full time job with Hermes the distribution business and he’s alcohol-free.”

The sentencing range for arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered has a sentencing range of two to six years and a starting point.

Judge Watson raised it to five years for the aggravating features and dropped it by 20% for the guilty plea, sentencing Gilhooley to four years in prison.

Summing up, he said: “You had a feud with Dannika Grady-Brown’s then-partner, a man by the name of Ryan Keeley.

“It was a feud where you decided that it would be appropriate for you to go and in your words ‘petrol bomb’ where you thought he would be.

“But you chose an address at 5.15am in the morning when he was not present it seems but she was, Dannika Grady-Brown.

“By chance unknown to you her young child was not present, but you equipped yourself with what you described as a petrol bomb, and made your way to her home and then at 5.15am in the morning as she slept upstairs.

“You launched that through her kitchen intending it should break and set fire to the kitchen worktop.

“It seems the bottle you chose was one that didn’t break on impact, although it broke the kitchen window and landed on a kitchen work surface.

“It didn’t, so its liquid didn’t spread the flames more widely.”

He added: “It was a wholly innocent woman.”

Gilhooley, dressed in a suit and who arrived at court with a large bag of possessions, muttered “sound” as he turned to head down to the cells.