A MAN who put lives at risk when he set fire to an outbuilding at a derelict Wall Heath pub is facing a spell behind bars.

Simon Glazzard, aged 38, of no fixed address, had denied starting the blaze at the Albion Inn and being reckless as to whether lives would be endangered.

But the self-confessed alcoholic was found guilty on a unanimous verdict after the jury retired for just 100 minutes at the end of his trial.

Glazzard, who had admitted setting fire to four cars in the Wall Heath area at an earlier hearing, will be sentenced at the end of the month.

Judge Michael Dudley told Glazzard, who has a previous conviction for arson at a supermarket in 2002, that he needed to consider all of the evidence before the case could be finalised.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told neighbours had seen Glazzard loitering in the vicinity of the public house in Albion Street.

But in evidence he maintained he had simply been sitting on a wall outside the pub before going to the side of the building to urinate and he stayed there to finish what was left of his bottle of cider.