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The story of the drunk paperboy

From ITV in the UK:

A 64-year-old paperboy who deliberately set fire to his employers’ house in a bid for revenge after his benefits were cut has been jailed.

Neil Hitchin poured flaming white spirit through the letterbox of Adrian and Caroline Watts’ home next to their newsagents in Waterfoot, Lancashire, while they were sleeping.

Hitchin had been working part-time for the couple for five years delivering newspapers, but failed to declare his earnings to the Department for Work and Pensioners, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Archer said Hitchin was caught after Mr and Mrs Watts declared their employees earnings through their accounts and his benefits were slashed.

Hitchin initially planned to ‘fire bomb’ the job centre’ but then ‘switched his attentions and focus on the newsagents itself’.

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