A rioter set fire to a 150-year-old furniture shop, forcing terrified residents to flee for their lives, the Old Bailey heard today.
Gordon Thompson, 33, burnt House of Reeves in Croydon to the ground at the height of last August's unrest, the jury was told.
Photographed earlier looting a laptop as rioters swarmed through the town centre, he was one of the first to smash his way into the furniture shop, said Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting.
"On leaving the store he asked another rioter for a lighter," said Mr Glasgow. "As soon as he was given one he set fire to a sofa. The ensuing fire razed the building to the ground.
"Embers and heat set fire to property on the other side of the road and numerous residents had to flee their homes. One young woman trapped inside her flat had to jump from a first-floor window into the arms of rescuers below."
The lives of members of the emergency services were also endangered, said Mr Glasgow.
CCTV and mobile phone footage provide "irrefutable" proof of the "full horror of the carnage Thompson brought to Croydon", the court heard.
He tried to hide his face but can be identified, the jury was told.
Thompson earlier looted branches of Iceland and House of Fraser in the Centrale shopping centre, the court heard, leaving, like others, with "armfuls of goods he had stolen". While he has admitted those two looting episodes, he claims he had nothing to do with the attack on the House of Reeves, said Mr Glasgow.
"But he was caught on film as he smashed the main windows of the furniture store, as he entered and then left the premises carrying stolen property, and as he set fire to the sofa."
Thompson, of Croydon, denies violent disorder, burglary and arson.
The case continues.
