Teenagers guilty of killing mother in blaze

Stephen Muir, 16, and a 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, set fire to Angela Brown's Ayrshire home while she and her three children slept.

Miss Brown, 31, was awakened by a smoke alarm and went to rescue the youngsters.

But she was eventually overcome by the blaze and later died from smoke inhalation.

Muir and his accomplice faced a murder allegation when they appeared yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow.

However, the pair pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide. They also admitted wilfully setting fire to the property to the danger of the three children's lives.

Judge Bill Dunlop QC remanded the pair for crimes that he said displayed "extraordinary wickedness".

Muir and the 15-year-old now face a lengthy sentence when they return to the dock next month.

Members of Miss Brown's family, including her parents Helen and Sandy, were in court.

In the early hours of 28 September 2008, the two accused and a third teenager, Ryan Dobbie, 16, were roaming the streets of Kilwinning, Ayrshire.

The trio went into Miss Brown's house in the town's Culzean Place.

John Scullion, prosecuting, said: "Once within the property, Stephen Muir set fire to a cushion that was on the floor in the ground-floor bedroom.

"The 15-year-old set two fires on the internal stairwell. The smoke alarm was activated, which was heard by people in neighbouring houses.

"The accused were heard to run from the property and a male was heard to say the words, 'You idiot'."

The mother of five awoke and rescued her three-year-old daughter. She then battled the thick smoke and flames and went back inside to save her two boys aged 12 and six. Mr Scullion told how the girl, meanwhile, went to a neighbour, Jonathan Poole Smith, for help. He wrapped her in a blanket before heading to Miss Brown's home.

Fire crews soon arrived on the scene and extinguished the blaze in the hall near a staircase.

Miss Brown and the two boys were then carried out.

The mother had suffered a cardiac arrest and had burns to 30 per cent of her body, including on her face, chest and leg.

Doctors fought to save her, but she was pronounced dead later that morning due to smoke and fire-gas inhalation. The two boys who were saved spent more than a fortnight in hospital before they were eventually released.

Mr Scullion said: "The consensus of medical opinion is that but for prompt medical treatment, both could have died."

The court heard that Muir, of Bilby Terrace, Irvine, and the 15-year-old spoke to friends after the fire and admitted they had been involved.

The pair were later arrested and blamed each other for starting the blaze.

The cause of the fire was found to be "deliberate ignition" of a naked flame to unknown materials within two areas of the stairs. It had spread up on to carpets and the timber staircase.

Mr Scullion explained to the court why the guilty pleas to the reduced charges were accepted.

He said: "The actions of the accused were reckless but, in view of their ages at the time and the explanation now offered – that they panicked and ran off on hearing the fire alarm – it is accepted that they did not act with the necessary wickedness required for the crime of murder."

Muir and the 15-year-old will be sentenced next month.