Terrifying six words of nightmare neighbour as he rang 999 six times in an hour

Ashley Keenan has been locked up

A nightmare neighbour who tormented residents of a block of flats in Bramley as he repeatedly set fire to his own home has been jailed.

Ashley Keenan, 32, told a 999 call handler that he was setting fire to his home as he did it, on one of a number of calls he made to police on December 20 last year.

Prosecutor David Outterside told Leeds Crown Court on Monday: “The defendant was living at the time in a block of flats in Rycroft Court in Bramley.”

The court heard Keenan had set fire to his flat in June last year, and the incident saw neighbours being evacuated. On another occasion in September last year, a neighbour described smelling “burning plastic” before the fire brigade attended.

Mr Outterside said: “She describes his antisocial behaviour. The day of the incident on the 20th of December, 2025, the police and fire brigade called to the defendant’s flat as he had set a fire there. He had called the police a number of times earlier that day, both before and during the fire. He was in various degrees of intoxication when he called 999.”

Keenan’s first call was made at 2.57am, where he reported he was having a mental breakdown due to his bipolar and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). He was advised to call an ambulance and 111 and he called again at 3.10pm, telling the call handler he had returned home and his door had been put through.

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Mr Outterside said: “At 4.06pm, he made admissions and said, ‘I may as well just set my flat alight’ and ‘I will just light it up.’ He suggested the Probation Service may want him recalled to prison. At 4.10pm, he made another call and at one stage seemed to accept setting the flat on fire and maintained it again. He said he could see smoke in the flat on that call.

“At 4.14pm, the operator tried to call him but it went to voicemail. At 4.17pm, he seemed very intoxicated and was talking about his flat and a fire alarm could be heard in the background.”

The court heard officers arrived shortly afterwards and found Keenan standing in his doorway outside, to the back of the flats as he was drinking and shouting across the street. He was arrested for arson and told officers he was being “targeted.”

It was said Keenan’s door to his flat had been “compromised” due to a fire earlier that day. He was taken to Elland Road Police Station and was interviewed.

Mr Outterside said: “He did give replies during interview and tried to alibi himself, saying he had been at his girlfriend’s, when he got back and realised the door had been forced and he called the police. He couldn’t remember he had threatened to burn the flat down or what the context of his calls were or saying that he had set it on fire.

“He mentioned his PTSD but said he had never been diagnosed or received treatment. He said he went to the shop at 2.30pm to buy beer and when he got back realised there was a fire and a pillow underneath the window had been set on fire. He blamed rival drug dealers but didn’t want to name them and said he didn’t want to be a ‘grass.'”

The court heard Keenan had previous convictions for robbery, criminal damage, actual bodily harm and burglary. He was on licence at the time of the December offence for assaulting an emergency worker and criminal damage.

He pleaded guilty when he appeared at court in January to arson while being reckless as to whether life is endangered.

Mitigating, Michael Morrow, told the court: “There has been some delay at it coming to sentence. He pleaded guilty on the 19th of January but a forensic psychiatrist was consulted. That is no fault of the defendant, he hoped to be sentenced sooner rather than later…

“He is realistic about the likely outcome. He has genuine remorse…In the doctor’s view, the defendant presents with mental health difficulties, which can most likely be understood in the context of adult ADHD, with a background of drug and alcohol dependency. The pre-sentence report cites that he is prone to struggle with emotions and is likely to engage in risky behaviour. He was a target of drug dealers in the area due to his debt and was assaulted previously and his flat was targeted.

“It is likely that has had an impact on the defendant.”

Keenan was jailed for 40 months.

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