A SPURNED lover who set his partner’s home on fire after she dumped him is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

Pieter Lens set the blaze at the home of a psychiatric nurse after she had called off their relationship due to his erratic behaviour, which also saw her abandon her on the grass verge of the A1 near Musselburgh.

Lens also threatened to kill the woman and made phone calls to her family claiming he would also burn their homes down.

Lens, 38, began an affair with the nurse earlier this year after the pair had met at the private Castle Craig Hospital near Peebles after he had been transferred there for treatment from a facility in his native Netherlands.

Lens attended at the hospital, which treats patients addicted to drink or drugs, in February this year for six weeks before he and the woman began their affair following his release.

But Lens soon began acting erratically and when the nurse attempted to end the relationship during a car journey, Lens grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the woman to stop.

He then angrily emptied the woman’s handbag over the grass verge before jumping into the car and driving off, leaving her stranded on the A1 near to Musselburgh.

After he had been picked up by police, he told them he wanted the woman dead and if he was unable to do it he would “get friends to do it”.

After being released, Lens again met up with the woman near her home in Peebles, where a row broke out between the pair and he was seen heading towards her home “with a lighter in his hand”.

When the nurse arrived at her home, she saw black smoke billowing from a window and she found Lens had set fire to a gas fire and a mattress within the home.

He then texted her sister stating: “Watch it burn – your family brings me down. I’m coming for you as I’ve nothing to lose.”

He added: “I’m your worst nightmare you stupid idiot. Don’t close your eyes at night.”

Police were contacted and officers discovered Lens lying on the ground hiding behind a parked car during a search or Peebles.

Lens appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today (Tuesday), where he pleaded guilty to a total nine charges including fire-raising, threatening behaviour, breaching bail conditions and driving offences.

Sheriff Thomas Welsh QC heard a lengthy Crown narration and decided to defer sentence for social work reports and a psychiatric report to next month. Lens was remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Peter Motion told the court that Lens and the woman met at Castle Craig Hospital while she was employed a psychiatric nurse but they did not begin a relationship until after he had been discharged.

It is believed the nurse left her husband and three children to start the relationship with Lens, who was attending the hospital for treatment for addiction issues.

Mr Motion said the pair began seeing each other romantically in April “following a friendship” at the hospital but the nurse began to have second thoughts within months.

The fiscal said she eventually told Lens the relationship was over while she was driving her car on the A1 near to Musselburgh on July 11.

Lens grabbed hold of the steering wheel, forcing the woman to a sudden halt, before he left her standing on the grass verge after driving off.

He was released on bail following a court appearance but soon breached the bail conditions by contacting the woman and her family members by phone and making the threats to kill them.

The fiscal said that Lens told officers “he intended to kill [the woman]” and that “he didn’t care if he was in jail as his life was over anyway”.

And following a couple of fiery meetings between Lens and the nurse, he then made the attempt to burn her home down after they argued on July 24.

Lens then taunted the woman’s sister and her estranged husband by telling them both: “I’m coming for you – I’m going to kill you.”

Lens was eventually arrested and while on remand in prison he sent the woman four letters imploring her to change her statement in an effort to secure his release.

Solicitor John Goode, defending, said his client had struggled with “psychiatric problems and substance abuse” for the past 20 years and had been at Castle Craig Hospital after being transferred for treatment from Holland.

Mr Goode said the Home Office was aware of the situation and Lens would be deported following the completion of his sentence.

Mr Goode saved his full mitigation to next month’s hearing, but did say: “He is very regretful and is reasonably insightful into what has happened with his life recently.”