Boden Hughes, 26, accidentally set fire to a pile of clothes in his cabin by tossing a lighter on them on the 31,800-gt King Seaways (built 1987) on 28 December last year while the ship was in the North Sea heading to Amsterdam.

The blaze sparked a major rescue operation that saw six people airlifted to hospital.

Judge James Goss, QC, sentenced him to nine years for arson and affray, which he admitted, as well as two years for his involvement in a copper cable theft conspiracy, to which he also pleaded guilty.

The