A man who started a £20,000 fire in his flat after a row with other residents has been jailed for four years by a judge who described him as “unpredictable and dangerous”.

Karl Eagle was living in a top floor flat in a multi-occupancy house divided into four flats in London Road, Ipswich, when he set light to papers and clothing behind a door shortly before midnight on October 31, 2012, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Fortunately, only one other resident was in the building at the time and the blaze was quickly extinguished by the fire service, said Robert Sadd, prosecuting.

Eagle, 24, admitted damaging a flat by fire and was jailed for four years with an extended licence period of three years after Judge Rupert Overbury described him as “unpredictable and dangerous”.

“I have a duty to protect the public from the risk of serious harm caused by the commission of further offences by you,” the judge said.

Mr Sadd said Eagle had started the fire after a row with other residents in the four-storey terraced house in London Road where he was living.

Nicola May, for Eagle, said psychiatric reports on her client showed he did not need to be made the subject of a hospital order.

She said at the time of the arson Eagle had been lonely and was depressed after splitting up with his girlfriend.

“He has expressed remorse for his behaviour and the risk his behaviour posed to others,” Miss May said.

She added Eagle had lost most of his possessions in the fire and because of fire doors in the property the blaze hadn’t spread beyond his room.

While Eagle had been awaiting sentence he had been working as a cleaner in prison and he had been clean of drugs since his remand in custody.