A Basildon woman has pleaded guilty to carrying out an arson attack on her own flat.
Samantha Keating, 36, now of Carol Close, Laindon, admitted setting fire to the kitchen of the property in Rayleigh Avenue, Westcliff, in October 2024.
Defence barrister Simeon Wallis told Basildon Crown Court on Thursday (February 5) that his client had committed the offence while unwell and there was evidence she had tried to put the fire out after she started it.
"It is the prosecution case, quite apart from anything else, that Miss Keating was experiencing quite severe mental health difficulties at the time of the fire,” said Mr Wallis.
“We had served a defence expert report. The salient part of that, there was evidence, not previously spotted, of the fire having been fought.
“This seems to have been a fire that was started in the kitchen, in a state of some intoxication and poor mental health. Someone – it must have been her – tried to put it out.”
Keating was supposed to stand trial at Basildon Crown Court last year but failed to attend.
“Miss Keating was hospitalised while on bail, under section, three times,” said the defence lawyer.
She was remanded in custody after her failure to attend and appeared in court on Thursday via prison video link from HMP Peterborough.
But her medication had now been stabilised, said Mr Wallis.
Judge Samantha Cohen granted Keating conditional bail to stay with a relative in Carol Close and agreed to order a probation pre-sentence report.
“You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter,” said the judge. “But the court wants to know a lot more about you before it decides the appropriate sentence. It is absolutely vital that the court has that information.”
Keating will be subject to an overnight curfew, monitored by an electronic tag, and is banned from entering Rayleigh Avenue.
She will be sentenced next month.
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