Teen thugs who set fire to home with family inside laugh their way through court

Teenagers who set fire to a home while a couple and their grandson were inside by through a letterbox giggled their way through their .

Jayden Carr put the accelerant through the letterbox of the house, which he set alight and smashed a front window. Harvey Colligan waited in the street on his Honda motorcycle and the two sped off, seconds later, only to crash a few streets away. Colligan was arrested when he crashed his motorbike, but Carr fled the scene and was later arrested when police found his blood on the door frame of the house, reported.

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Teesside Crown Court heard how the terrified family inside the home saw the flames before hearing a bang, as they rushed to put out the fire with water. In a statement, the victims said: "They intended to kill us because they did the front door first, so we couldn't get out.”

The female victim managed to put the fire out - but the outcome could easily have been far worse as a man inside the house uses a stick to help him walk. If the fire had spread, he could not have got out in a hurry. The court heard how he has lived there for 28-years and reported that since the arson attack, he is struggling to sleep.

The couple have since spent £5000 repairing the damage and having CCTV installed.

The man was left covered in glass as the fire roared through his letterbox - Carr smashed his front window seconds afterwards; then set fire to a relative's work van which was parked on the drive outside.

TeesideLive reported how Carr and Colligan sat laughing and joking with pal Ryan Jones - who was to be sentenced for a different crime. The clerk warned them they could be heard in the courtroom, as they appeared on video link from Holme House prison, where they were held on remand.

Judge Francis Laird spoke to them twice, but their amusement continued. They didn't seem interested in hearing the details of what they had done and the devastating impact on their victims.

The court heard how in a separate incident, Carr, along with accomplices Ryan Jones, 20, and Tyler Colligan, 20, who is Harvey Colligan's brother - smashed up a woman's home. The victim had left her house where she lives with her three children, out of fears for her family's safety.

Days earlier, her workplace - a salon - had been targeted "as a result of a dispute between criminal gangs."

Carr pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, criminal damage. possession of a class A drug with intent to supply and possession of a class B drug. He was sentenced to nine years in a young offenders' institution.

Colligan admitted arson with intent to endanger life, driving whilst disqualified, driving with no insurance and was sentenced to four years in a Young Offenders' Institution.

Another accomplice, Ryan Jones, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.