A man who burned down his estranged wife's home was today starting a life sentence.

Mark Simmonds called police after the arson attack and pretended he was armed because he wanted to be shot dead by a marksman.

Chichester Crown Court heard 37-year-old Simmonds went to his estranged wife Michelle's house with a can of petrol after being served with divorce papers in January.

He set the terraced house in Crawley alight before ringing the emergency services, explaining what he had done and telling the police he was armed.

Timothy Spencer, prosecuting, said: "He wanted them to believe that he was armed in order to get a police marksman to kill him."

Details of how Simmonds was finally arrested after the arson attack in Morrison Court were not given in court but no shots were fired.

Simmonds, brand-ed "highly manipulative and a danger to women he had associated with in the past" in a psychiatric report, pleaded guilty to the arson attack, which wrecked the house.

Judge Anthony Thorpe also ordered an inquiry into how Simmonds lied his way into jobs in care homes for adults and children and told social services to review cases he had been involved with.

Abdullah Al-Yunusi, defending, said Simmonds had gone into his estr-anged wife's home before starting the fire and made sure she and her two children by a previous relationship were not there.

He also checked that the houses on either side of the property were empty and then contacted the emergency services and his wife, telling them what he had done. Mr Al-Yunusi said one reason Simmonds wanted to die was that his wife would benefit from a life policy he had taken out.

He said Simmonds had been abused as a schoolboy and had a personality disorder.

He said a report which accused Simmonds of showing no remorse was wrong.

Jailing Simmonds, Judge Thorpe said: "The arson attack on your wife's home was a very grave offence with great potential for harm.

"Your subsequent attempt to commit suicide by inviting the police to shoot you, believing you were armed, is a matter of great concern to me as I am bound to consider the safety of the public."

Even more damning, said the judge, was a medical report describing Simmonds as "highly manipulative and well able to control his behaviour in circumstances that suited him."

Judge Thorpe revealed other findings of the report, saying: "It is a matter of grave concern that you have worked in care establishments for both adults and children on the basis, the doctor suggests, of false declarations.

"The doctor recommends a copy of his report should go to the director of social services in the areas where you have been employed in a care capacity for a review of all the cases with which you have been associated.

"I agree with that recommendation and the Crown Prosecution Service is to forward a copy of my sentencing remarks with the doctor's report to the director of social services for West Sussex, inviting him to pass both on to the other interested authorities."

The Judge said the report described Simmonds as a danger to women he had previously associated with.

He added: "The whole tenure of the medical report is such that you should not be released until such time as the authorities can be satisfied you are no longer a danger to the public as a whole and to female members of the public in particular."