'Resident did nothing' as fire engulfed his flat

RESIDENTS in an apartment block were left in fear after a man 'did nothing' when a blaze engulfed his flat.

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

The fire began accidentally at Jason Madegwa's home in Hulme after he discarded a lighter in the property.

But instead of calling for the fire brigade, the 52-year-old 'did nothing, Manchester Crown Court heard. A neighbor called 999 and banged on the doors of other properties as smoke poured out of the flat.

When firefighters and police arrived he was 'positively obstructive! Madegwa said that weeks earlier he had been seriously assaulted by a man who also lived in the apartment block.

On the night of the fire, the man was filming the blaze from nearby and Madegwa said he feared he was 'going to kill him.

Prosecutors told how the blaze broke out at about midnight on September 18 last year at a first-floor flat on Old Birley Street, within a four-storey complex containing 22 other flats.