sentenced to two and a half years in jail in Supreme Court yesterday.

His wife and her male friend suffered burns to their hands in the incident.

But apart from a smashed window, some charring and burnt towels, her home escaped damage.

Somerset resident Malcolm Eugene Simmons, 37, had pleaded guilty to attempting to set fire to a building while people were inside, and to throwing an article with inflammable liquid with intent to cause damage to property.

Crown counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun said Simmons had caught the bus to his ex-wife's Paget house around 10.30 p.m. last March 30. Seeing what he believed to be a man's car parked outside, he waited across the street.

But by 12.30 p.m. the man had not left and Simmons decided to go and peer in the windows.

Not liking what he saw through the bathroom window, Simmons went to a shed, filled a bottle with gasoline and stuffed a paper wick into it. He went back and kicked in the bathroom window, lit the wick of the bottle and chucked it into the house.

Mr. Calhoun said the flaming bottle narrowly missed Simmons' ex-wife and her friend.

He said it was only the quick action by her friend, who turned on the shower and pulled her under it, that saved them from being badly burned.

Their clothing was scorched and they both suffered burns to their hands, with the man being detained at hospital for the night. There was minor damage to the bathroom.

Mr. Calhoun said the act had not been spontaneous as Simmons had gone to some trouble to make the petrol bomb. He added he had been divorced from the woman for more than four years.

Simmons' lawyer Mr. Phil Perinchief, calling the offence an "act of passion'', noted his client did not have a history of violent offences.

Simmons apologised for the offence and said he had been acting "totally out of character''.

Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade sentenced him to two and a half years on the first count and 18 months -- to be served simultaneously -- on the second count.

She warned: "It is to be expected that people must get prison sentences for deliberately setting fire to buildings. It's just most fortunate that no one was badly hurt.''