A man has told of his horror as a flat caught fire when an alleged plot to firebomb a father went wrong.

Mark Sheehan said he tried to stop his friends Martin Steele, 17, of Watermill Close, St Leonards, Michael Baldwin, 22, of Wishing Tree Road North, St Leonards, and Grant Smith, 19, of Springfield Road, St Leonards, making petrol bombs after being racially abused by a friend's ex-boyfriend.

Mr Sheehan had his statement read at Lewes Crown Court.

The court heard he was driving with the defendants when Baldwin wanted to buy petrol.

They went back to a flat in Milward Road, Hastings and Steele appeared to be making petrol bombs.

However, things began to go wrong when petrol was spilled on the carpet.

The court heard from the statement how Steele got a lighter and lit the petrol on the floor causing it to catch fire.

Reading Mr Sheehan's statement, Richard Cherrill, prosecuting, said: "Everybody got up and began to run out of the flat." Mr Sheehan was arrested with his friends.

But in his statement he said: "I had no involvement in making petrol bombs."

Mr Cherrill said Mr Sheehan, in his statement, said he believed the defendants were making petrol bombs to get back at the father of a friend's baby.

The court heard earlier how Steele, Baldwin and Smith almost killed themselves and seven friends when their plot to make the bombs backfired.

The defendants plotted after a row broke out when they went with their friend and her baby to Hastings. The court heard the father, now the girl's ex, called Steele a "nig-nog".

Steele has admitted arson. He and Baldwin have denied making petrol bombs for an illegal use, a charge admitted by Smith.

All three denied making petrol bombs with intent to endanger life, damage property or enable others to do so.

The case continues.