Fires of passion burn down house

A German man has burned down his house after trying to impress his girlfriend.

11:14 20 July 2004

A German man has burned down his house after trying to impress his girlfriend.

The man had arranged a display of candles in the shape of heart, complete with the message "you set my heart on fire".

But the sheer number of candles involved meant that the heat ignited the wax that had dropped on the floor.

Ten firefighters had to be called out to deal with the blaze, which caused an estimated 33,000 worth of damage.

The 18-year-old man was not hurt in the incident, but was left with little more than a photo to remember his fiery love note.

Sky News quoted the unnamed teenager as telling police afterwards: "My girlfriend didn't even see the message."

"All I have left of it is a photograph - and she was not in the mood to look at that when she realised what had happened."