A Devon retained firefighter who started a fire so he could earn a call-out fee has been jailed for two years.

Adrian Baker, 32, from Hatherleigh, started the fire which caused �23,000 of damage at Hatherleigh market on 19 October 2002.

Baker, who had been a fireman for three years, admitted the crime after learning the market was covered by closed circuit television cameras, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He resigned from the fire service within days of the incident.

This was a deliberate blaze. There was no rational explanation for what you did Judge Jeremy Griggs

Baker started the fire by leaning a lit diesel-soaked rag, which he put inside a tyre, against a wooden building.

Six minutes after he started the fire, his pager called him to duty, and he went to the local station and joined the rest of the crew in putting it out.

The market suffered from extensive damage.

At an earlier hearing, the court heard that Baker told the police he would receive �14 for getting called out and a similar sum for being on the fire tender.

Sentencing Baker Judge Jeremy Griggs told him: "You knew the dangers of fire. This was a deliberate blaze. There was no rational explanation for what you did."

'Rank stupidity'

Defence counsel Stephen Mooney said Baker suffered from stress and had found it difficult to settle in Hatherleigh since returning from working in Germany.

Baker was also said to be suffering from financial difficulties.

Mr Mooney said Baker committed the offence, an act of "rank stupidity," after stress levels, he felt, "reached a head".

Devon Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Dave Canniford said: "The custodial sentence issued by the court will hopefully act as a deterrent to potential arsonists."