A COMPUTER programmer has admitted a series of fires after he was caught in a police sting.

David Withnall, aged 39, was filmed on police CCTV using makeshift devices to set fire to a shed on Dalton Bank, where he lives, on October 12, two wheelie bins on October 28 and another wheelie bin on October 28.

Sara Drysdale, prosecuting the Salford City Council employee, said: “When he was interviewed he denied being involved in any of the fires.

He was shown a picture of the devices and said he had never seen such a thing and the fingerprints were unlikely to be his.

“He saw the footage and admitted it was him. He said he made the device, he had been starting fires for a while and could not give a reason except to see how it burned.

He admitted it was him in the footage and said it was the excitement and thrill of not getting caught.”

The device found at the shed fire was a package held together with black tape containing a sponge and two pieces of plain A4 paper.

The court heard the shed contained a gas canister so the fire could have been more serious.

Warrington Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday that the defendant removed the device from the wheelie bin and placed it by the shed because he thought it would be found.

Withnall was said to have pressure at work but nothing that could justify the crime.

He was also said to have been verbally bullied at work because he does not get on with colleagues and keeps himself to himself and does not join in conversations about television programmes.

The court heard Withnall had been to see a doctor after his arrest in case there were any underlying psychological issues.

Magistrates adjourned the sentencing until January so a pre-sentence report could be made and to assess whether a psychological report was needed.

He is living at his parents’ house and adhering to a curfew while on bail.

Insp Andy Ross, Warrington Central NPU, said Withnall’s arrest was down to the hard work of his officers who ‘raced against time’ to find out who was responsible for the fires before anyone got hurt.

He said: “I am really proud of my staff – everyone was working at it. It takes a lot of work to get requests for CCTV approved.

“I am really pleased that we managed to get him before anyone was hurt.”

He said the case involved officers going through eight to 10 hours of CCTV to find evidence.