A JILTED wife who set fire to her estranged husband's bed after he left her has been jailed for two and a half years.
Jenifer Ann Cliffe, 30, went to the home she once shared with her husband Mark while he was working as a store manager in Withernsea.
The former foster carer removed the smoke alarms in the semi-detached house in Chanterlands Avenue, west Hull, before setting fire to his bed.
Detective Constable Neil Kitching said her actions were dangerous.
Her neighbour only realised something was wrong when smoke started pouring through the walls of his home.
DC Kitching said: "Her actions put lives in danger. This sentence sends out a message that arson is always taken seriously by the courts.
"There is always a risk to life even if your intention was to set a small fire. It can easily get out of control.
"Cliffe's actions in taking out the smoke alarms was malicious. They are there to save people's lives and if they are disabled then lives are put at risk. In this case, her next door neighbour was at home and unaware of the fire.
"If her family had not gone to check on the house, the situation could have been a lot worse. It was only by sheer luck that the fire was burning itself out."
The couple had separated after ten years of marriage although they had been together for 14 years. The mum-of-two was decorating at the house in Chanterlands Avenue and, during the course of the day, she sent her former partner a number of text messages.
In one, she asked him to "look after the kids". In another, she wrote "I'm sorry".
Finally, at 5.30pm, she texted: "Sorry I cannot do it any more, I love you, the house is gone."
The fire brigade arrived at the house shortly after receiving calls from her mother and sister, who believed she was trapped inside.
Her mother had made attempts to enter the house to rescue her and had to be treated for smoke inhalation by ambulance crews.
Crews risked their lives entering the property to find her before discovering the bed had been set on fire, forcing them to turn their water jets on it.
The bedroom and the upstairs of the house were all affected by smoke damage.
Firefighters discovered two smoke alarms had been removed downstairs and placed on the floor and a third had been taken down upstairs.
Cliffe was nowhere to be found in the house and her estranged husband worked with police to track her down.
Eventually, the police traced her to the A63, where she was arrested.
She claimed she had lit a cigarette and fallen asleep but later accepted this was not true.
Cliffe wept as she was led away to the cells.
Recorder Julian Goose QC said: "Your marriage had irretrievably broken down and you had moved out to live with your mother.
"You removed the smoke alarms because the noise was so loud and the noise, of course, was to alert people to what was going on.
"When you saw the flames, you made some minimal attempt to stop the fire and you left the property without calling the fire services.
"Your mother came to the scene and, thinking you were in the house, tried to save you, putting her own life at risk.
"This offence of arson was aggravated by two important features – in your desperation, you still had it in mind to remove the smoke alarms. Secondly, when you left the property, you made no efforts to call the fire services.
"I take into account with sympathy your state of despair of your marriage breakdown. A custodial sentence is inevitable but I reduce that sentence."
Cliffe, of Weelsby Way, Hessle, was jailed after pleading guilty to arson being reckless as to the endangerment of life on the afternoon of November 22.
Her solicitor Ian Phillip told the court it was a "cry for help".
Firefighters found the upstairs of the house was severely damaged and the floorboards had been destroyed.
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