A "smiling" Sudanese asylum seeker who set fire to his Bradford city centre hotel room after being evicted has been jailed for two years and seven months.
Mohammed Abdalla’s future in the UK now looks uncertain.
Bradford Crown Court heard how a member of staff tried to put out the flames with his bare hands with the judge observing: “If [he] had not responded so quickly it’s difficult to see what might have happened.”
There were between 150 and 160 people housed in six-storey The Bradford Hotel on Hall Ings at the time Abdalla committed arson, and ten staff members were on site.
Prosecuting barrister Tayo Dasaolu told the court how Abdalla, 28, had been due to be evicted from the hotel, where he had been resident as an asylum seeker, on October 31 last year due to unrelated behaviour.
The court heard that Abdalla had been waiting in reception for a number of hours before he asked to go back to his room.
Abdalla (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Ms Dasaolu told the court: “A few minutes after he returned to his room, the fire alarm was triggered causing security staff to rush to his room.
“A fire had been started in his bedroom and when security staff saw the defendant, he was sat in a chair on the landing smiling at them.”
Abdalla denied being responsible for the fire and accused security staff of taking his lighter from him.
The lighter was found on him when he was searched later.
A fire investigation officer later concluded that the fire had been started deliberately near the TV or desk area, and that a naked flame had been used.
In his police interview Abdalla denied causing the fire or setting anything on fire.
The court heard that the hotel comprised six floors and that between 150 and 160 people were housed there at the time on the first five floors.
The top floor was unoccupied.
Damage was put at £4,376.32 with rectification costs of £280 and staff overtime at £1,000.
The court heard that a staff member attempted to put out the fire with his hands, and that his actions were caught on CCTV.
He had difficulty breathing and was coughing and choking as a result.
Abdalla, now of no fixed abode and who appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds, later pleaded guilty to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered.
The court heard that he had no previous convictions in the UK.
Mitigating, Imran Khan said Abdalla, who arrived in the UK from Sudan in April 2025, “was not well” at the time of the arson attack.
He said ten days before the incident Abdalla had gone to an A&E department and reported difficulties with his mental health.
On the day of the fire Abdalla had been told to leave the hotel and had sat in reception with his belongings for a number of hours waiting for a taxi.
It was at this point that he went back to his room on the second floor where the fire began.
Mr Khan said: “His intention was never to endanger anyone’s life”, and expressed remorse on behalf of Abdalla, who had suffered trauma in his native Sudan.
He said Abdalla was currently on medication in prison and felt “much better” given that his mental health had been a contributory factor in the arson.
He observed that custody seemed to be the only option available to the court.
Sentencing Abdalla, who spoke with the assistance of an Arabic interpreter, Ms Recorder Ella Anderson paid tribute to the staff member who fought the fire.
She said: “No doubt [his] actions reflected his concern for the safety of all those in the building.
“This was an extremely serious incident.
“This was a hotel with five floors occupied. There were 150 to 160 residents and ten members of staff.
“Your actions put all of those people at risk.”
She added: “If [the staff member] had not have responded so quickly it’s difficult to see what might have happened.”
She jailed Abdalla for two years and seven months and said he would serve half of that period in custody.
She told him: “Given your status [as an asylum seeker] I am not certain what might happen at any early release point.”