AN 'ARSONIST' accused of burning the House of Reeves furniture store to the ground during the riots in Croydon was overheard boasting about the blaze, a court has heard.

Moments after setting fire to the furniture store, Gordon Thompson, 33, is said to have told the horrified man: "It was me – I did that. I burned Reeves Furniture."

After lighting a cream sofa behind a smashed window, Thompson was filmed on a camera phone raising his hands as he howled with delight, the Old Bailey heard.

The grainy footage was one of several amateur clips later uploaded to video-sharing website YouTube.

Other films of the blaze showed bystanders laughing and an alarm sounding as the fire began to take hold.

Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting, said: "The camera catches the defendant in what we suggest is an unguarded moment.

"He cheers and raises his hands, almost in celebration, towards the camera.

"That camera catches the attitude of this defendant while the fire he started is running out of control – he was proud of what he had done."

Jurors heard that resident Jonathan Davis had left his flat near to the store, worrying that rioters would break into the disused pub beneath his home to steal alcohol.

As he walked along Church Street at around 9pm that evening, Mr Davis allegedly encountered Thompson running in the opposite direction.

Mr Glasgow said: "As the defendant was jogging towards him, to his entire amazement, the defendant boasted: 'It was me, I did that – I burned Reeves Furniture'."

Mr Davis later recognised Thompson from photographs published on the front page of the Croydon Advertiser, the court heard.

Thompson, of Waddon Road, Croydon, has admitted looting nearby Iceland, in Surrey Street, and House of Fraser in Centrale, but denies violent disorder and burglary at House of Reeves, as well as alternative charges of arson with intent to endanger life and arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered.

House of Reeves was founded in Croydon in 1867 and had survived two world wars before its flagship store was destroyed.

The trial continues.

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