A sentencing hearing for a Sudbury man who deliberately started two fires at flats in the town has been adjourned to allow him to be seen by a psychiatrist.

Before Ipswich Crown Court on Monday was Aaron Hubbard, 43, of Minden Road in the town.

He had denied two offences of arson with intent to endanger life and two alternative offences of arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

In June, a jury cleared him of the two more serious charges of arson with intent to endanger life but found him guilty of the two offences of arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

Hubbard was due to have been sentenced on Monday but the hearing was adjourned until January 13 to allow him to be seen by a psychiatrist.

The court heard that the first fire was in a stairwell near the main front door of seven flats located in Queensbury House above the Weavers Tap pub in East Street, Sudbury, in March 2021.

By the time firemen arrived the fire had burnt itself out but they found the stairwell full of smoke, said Simon Gladwell, prosecuting

The second fire was in July last year in a ground floor flat in a two-storey block in Minden Road, Sudbury.

The front door of the flat, which was unoccupied at the time, was damaged and there was also smoke damage.

Fire investigators found that both blazes had been started deliberately.

Hubbard was arrested by police after he was seen near the location of both fires, before and after they were started.

The court heard that after his arrest for the first fire he said "it's about the flats" without the police mentioning anything about the location of the blaze.

He then claimed to have given a homeless man he'd seen sitting outside the flats a disposable lighter and said he had later seen him making a hand-rolled cigarette.