An amateur boxer who torched a car over a fall-out with its owner has dodged a jail sentence.
Mark Thompson, 30, poured a can of petrol over the Alfa Romeo GT Blackline JTS and set it alight just yards from a block of flats in Bainsford, Falkirk.
The incident happened in December, at around 8.20am on a Saturday morning, when some residents at the nearby properties were still in bed, Falkirk Sheriff Court was told.
The court heard a woman walking her dog saw Thompson standing by the side of the road near the flats, in North Street, with a petrol can on the pavement beside him.
She asked him if he was OK and he told her "aye, I'm fine".
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Prosecutor Michael Maguire said the woman began to walk away, but at this point there was a loud bang and the Alfa Romeo, valued at £2,500, 'went up in flames'.
Thompson began to stroll away, and took out his mobile as if to phone someone, but put it away and jumped over a fence before running through the playground of nearby Bainsford Primary School.
The woman who had been walking her dog ran back her own flat, told her husband what she had seen, and contacted the fire brigade.
No-one was hurt, but Mr Maguire said that 'in relation to the risk to the wider public' the 2007-reg Alfa Romeo had been parked on the road right outside the home of the owner, Ian Black, in a four-in-a-block property. All the flats in which were occupied.
Thompson, a builder, of Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, pleaded guilty to wilful fire raising.
Solicitor Dick Sandeman, defending, produced a letter to the court, proving that Mr Black had been compensated by Thompson for the value of the car.
He said: "He is contrite, and the parties have made up.
"Full recompense has been made and the court can properly take that into account.
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"Mr Thompson has returned to boxing, for which he has some talent, and trains three times weekly till 8.30pm.
"He operates a business, which has successfully taken off and he has a number of employees who are reliant upon him, he is in a stable relationship with a girlfriend, who is pregnant, and he is to become a father."
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio sentenced Thompson to perform 300 hours of unpaid work, plus a six-month tagging order requiring him to remain at home from 9pm to 7am daily.
He said: "There was a potential for this to be far more catastrophic."
