A man has admitted burning down his own home in Maldon.

Neale Barter, 39, appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to arson at his home in Fambridge Road on April 2 last year.

Sentence was adjourned for reports and Barter was granted bail. He is due to be sentenced next month.

Marriage breakdown triggered incident

It was the breakdown of his marriage that triggered Neale Barter to set fire to his home.

The father-of-four set alight the £180,000 five-bedroom detached bungalow in Fambridge Road, Maldon, early on Good Friday last year.

Mr Barter and wife Michelle - now divorced - had lived there for 11 years with their four children aged 6 to 11. At the time of the incident, the couple had been separated for a couple of months.

Speaking to the Gazette shortly after the blaze, Michelle, 31, said the marriage had deteriorated: "The last five years were very trying. We had two or three months where we would be fighting or rowing all the time.

"It was always a rocky marriage. It isn't until years later that you find you are incompatible."

Mr Barter, a former Plume School pupil, met his future wife on a blind date when she was 16 and he was 22.

Although she says they were opposites, the pair instantly hit it off, marrying in 1987.

She said: "He had a nice personality and he wasn't all bad. He was also a good provider for his family."

Neale Barter told the Gazette, the arson on his house - which boasted a three acre garden and swimming pool - was "a moment of frustration" at being away from his children. But it was not the first time he had attempted to get back at his wife.

In March 1998 Barter was seen damaging his then wife's car. Barter refused to let the officer handcuff him and he was eventually restrained after CS gas was sprayed into his face three times.

Barter was ordered to pay a total of £500 - a £330 fine, £100 compensation and £70 costs - after he admitted criminal damage and obstructing a police officer at a court case at Chelmsford Magistrates.

The court heard Barter had taken his wife's departure badly and there had recently been conflict over how the children were being brought up.

Neale Barter standing in the wreckage of his home

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