A 32-year-old father from Eindhoven has been jailed for eight years, to be followed by psychiatric prison, for trying to kill his three children by setting his home on fire.

The man himself called the fire brigade to alert them to the blaze. He was found in the attic with the three children, aged three, four and nine.

Firemen were able to rescue the family, but research into the blaze showed that it had been started deliberately. The man, who was known to have suicidal thoughts, had built small fires from burning paper around the house and damaged the smoke detector.

The court found the man guilty of arson, attempted murder and of endangering his neighbours in the rest of the row of terraced houses.