A paranoid schizophrenic who tried to set fire to a house full of people has been sentenced to an hospital order.
Daniel Ionescu, from south Essex, suffered from delusions that he was linked to the Royal family, who had gifted him the house he was trying to torch, and Donald Trump.
“He simply couldn’t understand why he was being asked to pay rent and why the other tenants were not paying him rent,” a doctor found.
Judge Samantha Cohen sentenced him on Thursday at Basildon Crown Court to a hospital order with Section 41 restrictions - meaning he cannot be released without Home Office approval.
In January 2025, Ionescu, 43, poured petrol all over the communal areas of his house of multiple occupancy (HMO) in Gaylor Road, Tilbury, and then tried to light it on fire.
“Fortunately, the fuel did not ignite,” Judge Cohen said as she passed sentence on Thursday (April 16).
She commended the bravery of one of Ionsecu’s female housemates, who tackled him as he tried to set light to a piece of paper and then ignite the petrol-soaked carpet.
A fellow resident at the HMO said Ionescu seemed to have been suffering from “mental disturbances” in the lead-up to the incident, during which time he was heavily using cannabis.
He told the woman that he was Jesus, that he was travelling with the Queen to the United States of America and that he had been granted ownership of the house as a gift from the King.
When police entered his room, they found a number of “concerning” messages written on a whiteboard, including references to levitation.
“Palace and Windsor does not love you,” he had written. “My mother must be punished.”
He has since been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which medics believe he had been suffering from for years and continues to suffer now.
In meetings with his GP, he spoke about one of his housemates accusing him of rape and claimed he had killed a child.
“This is all self-reporting from a man whose mental state is disturbed, so we have to take that with the necessary pinch of salt,” a doctor told the court – but said they were indicative of long-standing mental health issues.
After a period of treatment, Ionescu pleaded guilty to attempted arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered.
“You still experience grandiose and fixed beliefs related to links to the Royal family, although I note that you have now expanded that to include the President of China and the President of the United States,” Judge Cohen told Ionescu.
“Your treating psychiatrist and the nursing team at the hospital have recorded that you do repeatedly return to those initial psychotic symptoms.
“I take the view that you present a very significant risk of harm to the public.”
Essex Police refused to release Ionescu’s custody image to the public.
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