A woman who set her own house alight in Penryn and then had to be rescued from the burning building has been jailed for two and a half years.

Susan Christina Turner, aged 45, from The Terrace, pleaded guilty to arson and was sentenced by Truro Crown Court yesterday.

Back in July the Packet reported how Ms Turner was pulled to safety by two neighbours after being trapped inside her bedroom by flames and smoke.

Rueben Jenkin and James Ryan came to the rescue when the fire took hold at around 10pm on July 5.

Mr Jenkin, of nearby Tonkins Ope, was alerted by Ms Turner’s cries for help and saw her leaning out of a sash window.

With no ladders around, he was forced to climb a wall at the back of the courtyard and edge his way along until he was level with the window, but it was too far to reach.

At the same time Mr Ryan, who lived next door, was alerted to the fire by his daughter and found Mr Jenkin on the kitchen wall attempting to calm Ms Turner down.

Mr Jenkin, who at the time described the heat from outside the house as “like standing next to an unbearably hot bonfire”, talked Ms Turner out of the window and grabbed her under the armpit while she clung to an aerial, before swinging her to sit on the wall next to him. He then lowered her to safety on the flat roof of Mr Ryan’s kitchen.

Two fire appliances from Falmouth, one from Truro and one from Helston were called, along with the control unit from St Just and the breathing apparatus main control unit from Falmouth, as well as police and paramedics.