A MAN who started a fire in his mother's home by setting fire to his medication has been jailed.

Firefighters had to carry Ian Mullin out in his sleeping bag after he called them to the blaze at his mum's house in Hood Lane, Great Sankey.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Monday that Mullin set fire to the tablets, which he was taking for depression, having put them in the bin in his bedroom because they weren't working'.

Joanne Clarke, prosecuting, said he then went into his mum's bedroom to tell her what he had done.

"She saw smoke coming from his bedroom and shouted at him to come out."

Defence barrister, Tony Rose, said he had suffered drink problems and depression since being bundled into a van and abandonned by armed robbers.

Judge Nicholas Woodward sentenced Mullin to three years after hearing he had been convicted of making hoax 999 calls last year and posed a risk to himself and others.