Man set fire to deodorant in Tesco because he was desperate to go to prison

A man used a can of deodorant to "spray flames around" in a supermarket as he wanted to be arrested and sent back to prison.

Alex Rooney, who has a drug addiction and is a heavy drinker, deliberately set light to the spray he was recklessly squirting around from the canister and used the flames as a "highly dangerous weapon". His actions forced staff to tell customers to leave the store through the fire escape, Hull Crown Court heard. Rooney, 27, from Hull, who has been held on remand, admitted threatening a person with an offensive weapon in public on July 13.

Ashley Lambert-Jefferson, prosecuting, said police were called to the Tesco store in King Edward Street, Hull city centre, at about 7.40pm after a report of Rooney causing problems with a deodorant canister.

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Rooney, from Hull, used the canister to spray flames in the direction of police. He was agitated and was telling officers to get away. A police officer approached Rooney at the moment the flames stopped.

"It was a highly dangerous weapon," said Mr Lambert-Jefferson. Rooney was taken to the floor, disarmed and arrested. He was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary to be assessed.

Rooney later told police his actions were a deliberate way of trying to get himself back in prison. He had previous convictions for assaulting an emergency worker, non-domestic burglary and theft. He was in breach of a 15-month suspended prison sentence imposed just six days earlier.

Harry Bradford, mitigating, said Rooney pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and wanted to be sent back to prison. "He seeks a custodial sentence," said Mr Bradford.

It was a "damning indictment" that he saw prison as the most likely place where he could get help. He "actively" wanted the "assurance" of a custodial sentence.

Rooney was on methadone while in custody. He had previously been reliant on crack cocaine, heroin and alcohol, leading to a spiral in his health problems, reports HullLive.

Deputy circuit judge Geoffrey Marson KC told Rooney: "You have a terrible record of public order offences and making threats. It's a source of some sadness that you were committing an offence in order to get sent back to prison.

"You committed this offence no doubt when you were under the influence of alcohol and drugs. I hope that, while you are in custody, you will get some help. It's unfortunate that more help is not available to you elsewhere. You are getting at least some help in prison."

Rooney was jailed for two years and four months. The prison term included a consecutive one year after part of the suspended sentence was activated.