A MAN has been sentenced after setting fire to bins and destroying a Quran in Maidenhead.

Paul Simmons, 54, pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrates Court on Wednesday (June 14) to one count of arson and two counts of criminal damage – all which happened on April 1 this year.

In Broadway, Maidenhead, Simmons set fire to two large Grundon bins and was arrested by police.

At Maidenhead Police Station, while in custody, Simmons damaged a copy of the police’s Code of Conduct book and the police’s copy of the Quran.

The cost of the damage to the bins and books is unknown.

On Wednesday, the court heard that Simmons was ‘angry at being arrested’.

He was ordered to pay £275 in compensation for the main count of arson but no other penalty was order for the other two counts.

District judge Samuel Goozee said: “I accept your responsibility was reduced by your mental health at the time of the offences.

“You have since been released to hospital for treatment and you remain in hospital and they are planning for your future release.

“Luckily, the cost of the criminal damage was relatively low.”

Simmons appeared in court via video link from a hospital in Bristol.