A pensioner from Westbury has changed his plea to admit deliberately starting a fire at his own home which he shared with his wife.

Alan Watts had argued he was entitled to start a blaze at his own home because it belonged to him, but a judge ruled that his wife partially owned the property.

The judge at Swindon Crown Court today ruled that his wife Marian also had a charge on the property in Hawkeridge.

And after hearing the ruling Watts’ solicitor asked for the charge to be put to his client again and he pleaded guilty.

Watts, now of Queen’s Court, Westbury, pleaded guilty to one charge of arson of a bungalow in Hawkeridge Road.

Alex Daymond, defending, asked for a psychiatric report to be compiled on his client as well as a pre-sentence report from the probation service.

The pensioner started the fire which gutted the bungalow in the early hours of Friday, March 28 last year.

Watts was released on bail with the conditions he does not contact his wife and reports to Trowbridge police station on Wednesdays between 3-5pm.