Husband, 75, burned down his £550k cottage with blowtorch three days before it was due to be sold 'to stop his estranged wife getting her half share in their divorce'

A pensioner burned down his £550,000 cottage with a blowtorch three days before it was due to be sold in a bid to stop his estranged wife from getting her share, a court heard. 

John McCorry, 75, was unhappy about the upcoming sale of his cottage in Kennford, near Exeter, where he and his wife Hilary had lived for 20 years.

He had been drinking when he set the workshop of his house, near a supply of propane gas cannisters, ablaze with a blowtorch, Exeter Crown Court heard.

McCorry then sat in a chair and drank whiskey as the flames took hold, before telling a neighbour: 'I'm watching it burn.'

A judge heard the pensioner did not call 999 or attempt to extinguish the fire. 

The house was due to be sold for £550,000 three days after the blaze on June 17 last year, but it was so badly damaged that it recently sold for £320,000.

John McCorry, 75, was unhappy about the upcoming sale of his cottage in Kennford, near Exeter, where he and his wife Hilary had lived for 20 years

The court heard McCorry, a retired carpenter, had stopped his wife from removing her belongings from the house earlier in the day and had given her his dog for safekeeping.

Firefighters managed to prevent the nearby gas cannisters from exploding, which could have destroyed the entire building.        

Regardless, the fire caused substantial damage to the roof and a mezzanine floor. 

The loss was not insured because McCorry had stopped paying the premiums without telling his wife, who was living elsewhere.

McCorry admitted arson and being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

However, he claimed he started the blaze by accident while smoking or while using a blowtorch to clean brass door handles in his workshop.

His account was dismissed by Judge Keith Cutler after a fact-finding hearing at Exeter Crown Court.

He said: 'This isa very sad case. It may be that the drink he had taken brought on a maudlin and depressed mood and he was thinking about leaving the house he had known and loved.

'He felt resentment about it all. This was a fire started deliberately out of animosity towards his ex-wife with the intention of burning the property down.

'It may have been inspired by him being depressed, but that is what he did and that is why he was in the garden watching the house burn down.'

He had been drinking when he set the workshop of his house, near a supply of propane gas cannisters, ablaze with a blowtorch, Exeter Crown Court heard

The judge adjourned sentence until August but told McCorry he is likely to go to jail. 

Lee Bremridge, prosecuting, said McCorry's wife moved out about two years before the fire after ending their 30-year marriage. 

He remained in the listed Belford House, but Hilary went to court to force its sale.

The new owners were due to move in on June 20 but McCorry started the fire on June 17 after preventing removals men taking away furniture owned by his wife.

A blowtorch was found inside the door of the workshop and an open petrol can just outside. 

A firefighter said only swift action prevented the house being totally destroyed.

Mrs McCorry said her husband had been drinking when she went to the house to let in the removals men, but there was a delay caused by her husband calling the police to report he had found a mortar bomb.

He then pushed her out of the house and insisted she take his dog.

She said he was unhappy about their impending divorce and added: 'It did bother him. 

'He was also very angry that I had left him. I think he set fire to the house out of spite.'

McCorry denied starting the fire deliberately. He said he had been drinking whisky and beer during the day and had been working and smoking roll-ups in his workshop.

He claimed he went for a walk to the end of the garden and returned to find the workshop alight. He said he was so shocked that he could only sit and watch.

McCorry said: 'I did not want a divorce. I was not seeking a divorce. I did not want to move out of the house. That came from her end. I was not angry, I was upset.

'My home life was coming apart. She had relations and children and grandchildren. I had nothing and nowhere to go. I thought I would end up in a bed and breakfast.

'If the sale had gone through, I was due more than a quarter of a million but I didn't have a clue when I was going to get the money.'