A MUM told today how she had lost faith in the British legal system after an ex-partner received just three-and-a-half years imprisonment for torching her Hampshire home.

Paul Fielder had removed a smoke alarm before carrying out the arson attack at Linda Hunt's rented house in Sholing, Southampton.

Due to time served on remand, the 31-year-old, who had a previous conviction for setting light to another ex-girlfriend's home, should be free in 18 months.

In contrast, Mrs Hunt, who lost her home and entire possessions in last summer's blaze, is still picking up the pieces from her ordeal.

Haunted by flashbacks of the night her children could have perished at the hands of drunken Fielder, she says her life will never be the same again.

Speaking after seeing Fielder jailed at Winchester Crown Court yesterday, the single mother-of-three said: "No-one knows the courage it took me to go to the police in the first place.

"Now I know there is no justice in this world. No wonder women do not come forward to report these things if this is the result you get at the end of it."

Bank-worker Mrs Hunt described how she had dated Fielder for two years before he 'changed'. It was another two years before he destroyed her home.

"This man took everything away from me. It was very hard for me to stand up against him and now I just feel I have been kicked in the teeth," she said.

"I hate him and what he has done to my family. I will never be able to get over this; it will probably affect me for the rest of my life."

After the arson attack, Mrs Hunt spent 10 weeks in a hostel before being re-housed with her children in the Bursledon area.

Yet Fielder managed to track the family down and even posted a Christmas card to them last year.

Now Mrs Hunt is planning a fresh start out of the area with daughters Sarah, 16, Kelly, 13, and son Michael, seven.

Unemployed Fielder, of Spring Road, Sholing, had denied arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, claiming he had spent the evening at Woolston Social Club, but was found guilty at trial.

He was also convicted of criminal damage to Mrs Hunt's Ford Escort XR3I, which he admitted.

Jurors heard how he had got drunk and torched the Butts Road property in July last year after the couple had rowed about the way she was bringing up her children.

Following the argument, Mrs Hunt became concerned for her safety and took her son to a friend's for the night.

Fielder later called her mobile and warned her: "Get home now or I will burn your house down."

Minutes later, he rang again and said: "Your house is burning - this will teach you a lesson."

Luckily neither of Mrs Hunt's daughters were home at the time.

Investigations showed separate blazes had been started in the kitchen and living room, and the smoke detector removed.

After he was convicted, it emerged Fielder had previously been sentenced to 42 months' youth custody for firebombing another girlfriend's house in the late 1980s.

Judge Charles Wade, who imposed a three-and-a-half year jail sentence, told him: "It is extremely fortunate that the house was not occupied at the time you started these fires."

After the case, Det Con Steve White, of Bitterne CID, who led investigations into the arson attack, said: "Fielder has shown himself to be a dangerous individual from who the public have a right to be protected. The police are delighted to have a conviction in this matter."