Phone call set drug cook on fire

Darren Jeffries was not behaving like the brightest spark but the one suspected to have come from his cellphone was bright enough - igniting cannabis oil he was cooking up in his bedroom with the door closed.

Police said Jeffries, 23, was caught in a fireball and ran "smoking from his head" to alert his partner and two children who were in the house, saying: "I'm sorry babe, I'm sorry." Detective Constable Daniel MacIntosh said police speculate a text message sparked the fire.

Heavy vapour had formed as the cannabis and alcohol were heated on a small electric element in the Johnsonville house in January. As Jeffries opened his cellphone, the text lit up more than its screen - lawyer Noel Sainsbury said Jeffries "nearly blew himself up".

A neighbour told police that as he ran past the flames and popping windows to help he could hear the screams of the two young children. He found two adults arguing in the backyard and the children perched on a wall screaming.

The woman said "take my kids" and he grabbed one in each arm and raced past the burning driveway to safety.

The house was razed in 30 minutes.

In Wellington District Court yesterday, Mr Sainsbury said the explosion had turned Jeffries' life around. He had been making the cannabis oil to feed his addiction. "The good that has come out of that is that the shock - one can only imagine the shock - seems to have brought him to his senses."

He says he has sworn off cannabis. He pleaded guilty to trying to make cannabis oil and recklessly damaging the Philip St house with the fire that also burned his face and hands.

Jeffries, a furniture mover, was sentenced to eight months' home detention, to be followed by alcohol and drug treatment and anger counselling. Insurance covered the $88,000 damage.

No reparation was ordered. Jeffries already owes more than $16,000 in unpaid fines.