Arson Prozac 26/04/2007 England Before Starting Fire, Man Takes 32 Prozac Tablets
 
 Summary:<br><br><div>Paragraph 12 reads:&nbsp; &quot; <h5><strong>He said before starting the fire he had taken 32 prozac tablets.&quot;</strong></h5><a href="http://www.herald24.co.uk/content/herald/news/story.aspx?brand=EHHOnline&amp;category=NewsEastHerts&amp;tBrand=herts24&amp;tCategory=newsehhnew&amp;itemid=WEED26%20Apr%202007%2012%3A29%3A47%3A770">http://www.herald24.co.uk/content/herald/news/story.aspx?brand=EHHOnline&amp;category=NewsEastHerts&amp;tBrand=herts24&amp;tCategory=newsehhnew&amp;itemid=WEED26%20Apr%202007%2012%3A29%3A47%3A770</a> <br /><br /><br /><h1><strong>Arsonist &lsquo;stood like a god&rsquo; in ruins of house<br /></strong></h1><h3><strong>26 April 2007<br /><br /></strong></h3><h5><strong><a href="mailto:herald.news@archant.co.uk">EDITORIAL - herald.news@archant.co.uk</a><br /><br />The explosion caused &pound;40,000 worth of damage<br /><br /></strong>A man who blew up his Cheshunt bedsit has been jailed for 27 months.<br /><br />Matthew Cherry, 36, deliberately started a fire in his groundfloor hostel room causing a bottle of butane gas to explode with catastrophic results on January 17 this year.<br /><br />Cherry pleaded guilty at St Albans crown court on Monday to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. <br /><br />Charles Ingham, prosecuting, said Cherry was seen by a woman in the kitchen of Lawrence House, the Broxbourne-Council owned hostel in Cromwell Avenue as she cooked a meal.<br /><br />He appeared to be drunk and suddenly shouted out: &quot;It&#39;s going off in five minutes.&quot;<br /><br />The scared woman alerted her husband and another woman resident and the three dashed for the front door. As they did so there was a loud explosion, throwing all three to the ground.<br /><br />The door to the defendant&#39;s room was blown of its hinges, and his front wall was blown into the garden outside.<br /><br />Mr Ingham said: &quot;He could be seen standing in the room with his arms outstretched like some kind of God&quot;<br /><br />An investigation into what caused the explosion, found that Cherry had started a fire in his room and the resulting heat from the flames had caused a butane gas cannister to explode.<br /><br />When arrested at the scene he told police: &quot;Did I kill anyone? I can&#39;t believe I am still alive&quot;.<br /><br />Mr Ingham said: &quot;He said he was drunk and said he had wanted to kill himself.&quot;<br /><br />He said before starting the fire he had taken 32 prozac tablets.<br /><br />Mr Ingham said the explosion caused &pound;40,000 pounds of damage to the building.<br /><br />Simon Smith, defending, said: &quot;The history of Mr Cherry and his family is a tragic one.&quot;<br /><br />He said Cherry had been adopted as a child and went to live with a supportive family who sent him to a private school.<br /><br />But his life changed in his early teens, when a social worker he was close to died and his older brother hung himself.<br /><br />Mr Smith said the defendant had taken a number of overdoses in the past and had suffered depression and drink problems. </h5></div> 
</font>
<br><br>