Carol Schofield, 42, admitted arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, and was given a nine-year suspended prison sentence at Leeds Crown Court last Thursday.

Prosecutor Austin Newman said Schofield, of Westgate, Heckmondwike, had been married to Michael Schofield since 1999 and he described their relationship as turbulent because of her drinking.

In September last year he told her he was having an affair.

Mr Newman said: "After he moved in with his new partner she appears to have become obsessed with trying to get him to return to the marital home.

"She came to see him at work and he was bombarded with phone calls and text messages."

Schofield attended the Priory in Cheshire to address her drink problem and was discharged in October.

She met her husband at a pub in Drighlington and the next day, October 28 2007, sent him a text asking him to meet her, but he did not turn up.

Mr Newman said: "Over the next hour he received a series of texts which were increasingly bitter."

One referred to burning his paperwork, and one said: "Burn baby burn."

Schofield's daughter, Nicola Butlery, called her step-father and said her mother was about to set fire to his flooring business, MF Schofield, at Boundary Street, Heckmondwike.

Richard Sutcliffe lived in a flat adjacent to the warehouse.

Mr Newman said: "The first he became aware of the fire was when Nicola knocked on his door and told him what had happened. He went out and saw the warehouse was alight and there a fire in the skip in the yard."

Mr Sutcliffe told her to call the fire brigade, which she did, and went back to the flat for his car keys.

Mr Newman said: "He could see smoke billowing up from under the skirting board, lifting the carpet."

Schofield was arrested that day, and admitted in the police car on the way to the station what she had done.

Mr Newman said she did not know Mr Sutcliffe was inside but conceded that she had not checked.

In an insurance claim the damage to the premises was calculated as £94,483.

Mitigating, Charlotte Worsley said no-one was injured in the incident.

Schofield disputed her husband's claim that she had been a heavy drinker prior to his affair.

Ms Worsley said: "He oscillated between his wife and his mistress and could not make his mind up."

Schofield was devastated by her husband's behaviour. She took an overdose and slit her wrists.

She has spent a month in jail awaiting her court appearance and is now living on the Isle of Man.

In letters to the court she was described as generous, kind and conscientious.

Ms Worsley said: "She's lost everything. She's not allowed to return to her marital home. She's had a very difficult time with her daughter and has not been able to see her grandson."

She said Schofield's father had suffered heart trouble as a result of the stress of her case.

She added: "She went a bit loopy, drinking too much. His lies were driving her mad and it pushed her to the edge."

Recorder Toby Hedworth QC said: "Unfortunately there is a lot of disharmony caused by adultery but it does not always lead to people setting fire to buildings."

Sentencing her to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and 180 hours unpaid work, the judge gave her credit for her guilty plea.
He said: "Only a prison sentence is appropriate. But I don't believe it's a sentence you must serve at this stage.

"Be aware that you are not out of the woods yet. There will be difficult decisions that need to be made.

"If at any time during that 18 months you commit any offence punishable by prison, then to prison you will go."