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This is the despicable moment two lowlife thugs set fire to a homeless man's possessions after one had urinated on his bedding.

Nicola King, 23, and Jerely Evans, 25, admitted the arson , which happened outside a row of closed shops in Portsmouth, Hants.

A court heard the pair were initially "nice" to Roy Ransom and gave him £5 for a drink but they become "rude" and he walked off.

CCTV played at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on Friday shows Evans trying for several minutes to set light the bedding using a cigarette lighter, while King watches and holds her mate's bag.

King also urinated on the bedding during the sick attack, the court heard.

They walked away laughing before firefighters had to rush to the scene to put out the blaze on April 9.

Evans, from Waterlooville, Hants., was jailed for four months. King, who is originally from Havant, Hants., but is currently homeless herself, will be sentenced on October 27.

"The defendants soiled and destroyed the only possessions that the homeless man had, leaving him without any bedding or a blanket," said Richard Withey, senior crown prosecutor.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Ransom described how he had "literally lost everything" in the arson.

Ayisha Robertson, defending King, admitted the incident "had a very real impact on the victim" but asked magistrates to consider a community sentence in light of King's decision to switch her plea to guilty.

She also said her client had a low IQ within the range of "a mild intellectual disability" which often made her "compulsive" and made it "difficult for her to understand consequences."