A CHEF who was "seconds from death" after his home was gutted in an arson attack has described his relief after the man responsible was sectioned.

James Maguire said he was pleased Martin Nganga would get professional help after he was yesterday detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act at Oxford Crown Court.

The 47-year-old of Tiverton Road in Wembley, London, was convicted last May at the same court of arson with intent to endanger life after a jury found he had set fire to a house in Mallard Way, Blackbird Leys on January 29, 2014.

Yesterday the court heard the "revenge" attack had been targeted at Nganga's best man Peter Kiriamburi, who was in a relationship with the attacker's wife and was one of four residents in the house.

When it went up in flames after Nganga poured petrol into it and set it alight Mr Maguire was forced to leap from his bedroom window, smashing his ankle into pieces when he landed.

He then helped rescue Mr Kiriamburi while two other women who lived in the house also jumped to safety.

Speaking after Judge Ian Pringle sectioned Nganga Mr Maguire said: "I feel relieved.

"I am pleased Nganga is getting the help that he needs and he is safely put away.

"I forgive him and if he is not well he is not well.

"He almost killed four people in one go.

"I am just pleased to draw a line under it."

The court heard Nganga suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Mr Maguire, 35, said: "I was seconds from death that night, I should be dead.

"I really want to thank DC Arran Cliff and all the emergency services and the surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital who saved my foot and put it back together again.

"At first I thought it was an electrical fault that caused the fire so I found it very difficult to process the fact it was targeted at someone else in the house.

"It has changed me a lot, the petty little things in life do not matter any more."

Nganga's barrister Siobhan Grey said her client, who showed no emotion as he was sectioned, had a past history of stable employment and had not misused drugs in the past.

She said: "This is a man able to hold down a job, a family, a relationship.

"He ran his own business and lead a comfortable life and then something awful happened.

"It is something in isolation."

Sectioning Nganga indefinitely, so that he can only be released by the Secretary of State for Justice, Judge Pringle said the crime Nganga had committed was "extremely grave."

He said: "It is clear in the jury's verdict that you decided to take your revenge on Mr Kiriamburi.

"You lit that fire and you poured the petrol into the property.

"Those in the bedrooms upstairs had to jump to save themselves.

"The results of what you did could have been easily fatal.

"You have nothing in your past to speak of but I also need to consider the nature of the offence.

"It was extremely grave."