"Desperate" South Yorkshire woman's suicide bid in house blaze

A neighbour saw thick black smoke coming from Kerry Cox's Park Avenue semi-detached house in North Anston, at 1.15pm, on February 10, prosecutor Louise Gallagher told Sheffield Crown Court.

When the neighbour opened Cox's front door, she was nearly overcome by smoke, and could hardly see the floor.

Cox was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, but when her neighbour screamed for her to get out, Cox didn't move.

She screamed: "Kerry, get the f*** out."

Cox replied: "Tanya, just leave me. I want to die."

Her neighbour dragged Cox outside and then checked on the other neighbouring house, where children lived. The woman, who is asthmatic, needed medical treatment for smoke inhalation.

Cox told police she suffered from asthma and anxiety attacks, and had recurring nightmares about being buried alive.

A fire investigation revealed the fire was started in the living room, and paint thinner was probably used as an accelerant.

Joy Merriam, mitigating, said: "This is obviously a tragic case. This was her home for 12 years and she began to feel extremely unhappy there.

"It was the place where she had a stroke and previously lived with her partner and two adult children, but now lived there on her own."

Ms Merriam said Cox was under the "pressures of debt" and was on "substantial medication which she hadn't taken for three days."

"She hadn't drunk alcohol or taken drugs,” she said. "It was a cry for help and a genuine attempt at suicide.

"She said: "I had enough. I just snapped. I can't believe what I have done.”

Cox, 45, pleaded guilty to arson with reckless intent to endanger life, on May 5.

On Friday, Judge Michael Slater said it was a "genuine cry for help that came about in the most dangerous of circumstances."

He sentenced Cox to two years in prison, and commended the "courageous actions of Miss Dye" and awarded her £1,000 from public funds.