A TRAUMATISED Linwood woman has told how her life has been “ruined” after an ex-girlfriend torched her home.

Kara Watt said she has been in a “living nightmare” since former partner Lisa Gilmour set fire to her front door in a drink and drug-fuelled rage after being told she was in a new relationship with a man.

Having split up with Gilmour two years before the incident, Kara was horrified to wake up one night in September and be confronted by smoke and flames.

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She said her friend Peter Hughes, who Lisa believed was her new partner, helped to douse the flames and they managed to escape uninjured.

However, 30-year-old Kara was left so shaken by the incident that she now attends regular counselling sessions to help her deal with the trauma.

She told The Gazette how Gilmour, 33, was abusive to her during their relationship and, on one occasion, smashed her way into her home with a hammer.

Kara said: “I broke up with Lisa because, when she started drinking and taking drugs, she was like a different person.

“She came round to my house with a hammer two years ago after we had split up but the fire was the most extreme thing she did.”

Kara woke up on the night of the fire to the sound of a smoke alarm going off in her top-floor flat.

The Gazette:

Lisa Gilmour faces jail for the attack 

After seeing the smoke, she ran straight to the front door, where she was faced with a wall of flames.

Gilmour, from Johnstone, had set fire to a pair of boots and placed them against the door.

She appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court earlier this month to admit a charge of wilfully setting a fire that placed the lives of Ms Watt and Mr Hughes in danger.

Sheriff Frances McCartney called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing and remanded Gilmour in custody.

He warned her that she could be jailed for the offence when she returns to court to learn her fate in the new year.

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In a bid to put her ordeal behind her, Kara is now hoping to find a new place to live.

“I’m trying to move to get away from the bad memories,” she said.

“I’m getting counselling and have been put on medication because I was completely on edge.”