Court blames apartment fire on dog

HELSINGBORG, Sweden, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A Swedish court has acquitted a man of arson charges after ruling the fire that destroyed his apartment was caused by his pet dog.

The court ruled the apartment fire in Helsingborg, which raised arson flags after investigators found three stove burners had been left on to the maximum settings and some paper and a popcorn machine had been atop the stove, was likely caused when Butler, the 30-year-old man's dog, attempted to scale the stove to retrieve a plate of cookies that had been left on top of the appliance, The Local reported Thursday.

Butler, the man's cat and two pet hamsters were killed in the fire.

However, the 30-year-old man received a 2-month prison sentence after it emerged during trial that he had been driving a car without a license.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing," the man said after the trial.