AN Efailwen man burned down his £250,000 farmhouse home while in dispute with a building society trying to get him out.

Police and firemen arrived at Pontyrhodyn farm in the hamlet of Efailwen to find Charles Chestnut enjoying a barbecue and strumming a guitar.

Chestnut, aged 55, told them he had started the fire but refused to take part in his trial at Swansea crown court.

But the trial went ahead without him and today he was found guilty of arson.

Chestnut will be sentenced on April 10.

Chestnut "obliterated" Pontyrhodyn farm and a barn on the very day he was due in court to continue his argument with the Yorkshire Building Society.

After his arrest he told police, "I don't intend to defend it in any way whatsoever. Produce what ever charges you want and I will accept them."

Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said on September 19, 2016, Chestnut was in fact no longer the legal owner of Pontyrhodyn because he had stopped making payments and a county court had granted possession to the Yorkshire in 2014.

Two years of further legal hearings followed because Chestnut refused to leave the property entirely and eventually he occupied a caravan in the grounds of Pontyrhodyn.

On September 19, 2016, Chestnut had been due in court again but failed to attend.

Firemen found both the farmhouse and a barn so badly damaged they did not bother taking any action “Mr Chestnut was there and said he had lit the fires," said Mr Scapens.

Police noticed two petrol cans in his car and found a caravan inside a polytunnel used for the growing of vegetables. Chestnut was sitting outside enjoying a barbecue and playing a guitar.

James Taylor, a solicitor with the Yorkshire, said the £250,000 property and land was now valued at as low as £40,000, which would not cover the outstanding mortgage.

After the verdict Judge Geraint Walters told the jury he would have been worried if they had returned anything other than guilty.

He explained that he had been unable to tell them that Chestnut had already admitted his guilt because he had not responded at all when the charge had been put to him.

"It was, very obviously, the right verdict. But it had to be returned by you the jury," he added.

Judge Walters said he would have to decide whether Chestnut was a dangerous offender as defined by law, partly because he had said that he would burn everything else that he owned.

Judge Walters said he would write to Chestnut, who is being held at Swansea prison, informing him of the verdict and asking him if he wanted a psychiatrist to asses him before the sentencing hearing.

Chestnut refused to take part in the trial but before the jury was sworn he told Judge Walters he didn’t care if he got 10 years in jail.