A MAN who started a blaze in his room which led to a Coventry hotel being evacuated late on Christmas night is to be examined by a psychiatrist before being sentenced.
Jakub Porebski had denied a charge of arson with intent to endanger life following the fire at the Coventry Hill Hotel at Rye Hill, Allesley, on December 25.
A jury at Warwick Crown Court found him not guilty of that charge, but guilty of an alternative offence of arson being reckless whether lives were endangered, which he had also denied.
Judge Anthony Potter adjourned the case for a psychiatric report to be prepared on Porebski (29) of no fixed address, and remanded him in custody.
Prosecutor Suki Dhadda said staff at the hotel were alerted to the fire in room 504 when an alarm was activated at around 10.30pm on Christmas night.
So severe was the fire that the 160 guests had to be evacuated and six fire engines had to attend to tackle it.
It had been started on a double bed in the room, which had been occupied by Porebski.
The manager, who had not been on duty at the time, was alerted, and when he arrived he saw Porebski with two bottles of wine, which he took from him.
The hotel’s CCTV system was examined, and a camera outside room 504 showed Porebski leaving the room shortly before the alarm went off.
He had a rucksack with him in which he had all of his belongings, even though he had been booked in for another night, and he looked back into the room before closing the door.
Porebski quickly made his way to the stairwell and rushed down five flights of stairs and out of the hotel as the fire alarm went off just 30 seconds after he had been seen leaving the room.
The fire had started on the mattress on the double bed and had spread to towels on the floor, causing smoke and heat damage to other areas of the room.
And a fire investigator concluded that it had been caused deliberately by a flame, rather than something like a smouldering cigarette, pointed out Miss Dhadda.
The police attended, and when Porebski was arrested nearby after being identified as the occupier of room 504, he had a disposable lighter on him.
Porebski, who said he had drunk five cans of beer and some vodka that evening, admitted he had been playing with the lighter in the room, but denied starting the fire deliberately.
That was rejected by the jury, although they accepted he had not intended to put the lives of other guests in danger.
