A woman convicted of arson after a family of five had to flee their home when she allegedly set fire to their shed will serve her sentence in the community.
Melanie Shaw, 44, of Bonnington Crescent, Sherwood, was found guilty of starting a shed fire and throwing paint on a Sherwood family's home last month.
Despite denying the charges, she was convicted by a jury's unanimous verdict of arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered on February 1, and damaging property at the same house on June 26.
Returning to Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, December 11, she was given a community order for three years with supervision from the probation service.
Judge Michael Pert QC was satisfied Shaw suffered from mental illness and told her: "Because you are ill, I'm not going to send you to prison."
She was banned by a five-year restraining order from contacting the victims of the arson attack or going to their address.
Shaw thanked the judge for his time as she life court as her many supporters, who attended her trial, clapped as she left court.
Shaw was said to have had a grudge against a friend at a house where the sheds were set on fire in Bonnington Crescent after she had spoken to social services.
Shaw, a churchgoer, lived nearby and had threatened her pal before starting a fire in the family's garden shed as they slept, the court heard.
The friend's husband, who raised the alarm, told the court that they had all gone to bed when he awoke and heard a noise like the sound of running water.
He thought one of the children had left a tap on but when he got up, he saw orange flames against the landing window. "I went to the window, thinking next door was on fire, and saw the shed was ablaze," he had told the court.
His partner called the fire brigade, while he ran to neighbours' houses to alert them.
Flammable acetylene gas bottles had been inside the shed but remained intact.
The family could not return immediately to their home until it was considered safe because acetylene can continue to burn inside the cylinder.
The fire happened in the darkness, so it was not until the following morning that the family saw abusive graffiti on a door and a wall about their daughter.
Four months after starting the blaze, Shaw attacked the family's home again, throwing paint at the house.
