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A MAN who tormented his neighbours for ten years before setting fire to their house has been told he must stay at the high-security State Hospital at Carstairs.

Michael Reynolds, 37, was accused of attempting to murder Nigel and Elaine Brown, who were asleep when their home was attacked in the early hours of November 20, 2011.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how petrol or a similar accelerant was poured on the door of the property in Meadowbank Cresent in Ormiston, East Lothian and set alight. The couple managed to escape by using a ladder.

Reynolds was found not guilty of attempted murder on account of insanity in May last year, but was sent to Carstairs by Lord Turnbull on an interim compulsion order.

Speaking to the News after the trial, Mr Brown told how the couple and their two-year-old son had been left stranded in an upstairs bedroom as smoke and fumes spread through their home.

Lord Turnbull yesterday ruled that Reynolds should continue to be held at Carstairs after hearing medics felt that he continued to pose a risk to the public.