A COUPLE who caused a £22,000 blaze after kicking their way into a flat have been jailed for a total of five and a half years.

Laura Hughes, aged 20, wanted revenge against an ex-boyfriend she accused of attacking her, Worcester Crown Court heard.

After drinking with her new boyfriend, Terence Jones, the pair broke into the man's home in Cedar View, Batchley, smashed up belongings and set his bed ablaze.

Two brave policemen forced their way into the empty flat to search for any occupants, said William Rickarby, prosecuting.

And other flats in the block had to be evacuated. Damage amounting to £19,500 was caused to the targeted flat and a neighbouring property suffered £3,000 damage.

Hughes, of Foxwalks Avenue, Bromsgrove, and 26-year-old Jones, of Montgomery Close, Bromsgrove, pleaded guilty to arson while reckless whether lives would be endangered.

Mr Rickarby said Hughes' relationship with her first boyfriend ended acrimoniously six weeks before the fire.

On December 13, the defendants went to the flat at midnight for Hughes to retrieve her possessions. But after damaging some of them, they set alight bedclothes and fled. A neighbour phoned police after hearing banging noises.

Hughes had warned her ex-boyfriend in a phone call: "I told you I would get my revenge."

Nicolas Cartwright, for Hughes, said she had reported her former partner to police for assault and a warrant was out for his arrest.

She had gone to the flat for her own goods, which he was refusing to hand back. But she became upset and started the blaze.

Hughes was three months pregnant and now had a new, loving relationship, added Mr Cartwright.

Glyn Samuel, for Jones, said he suffered from depression and had tried to commit suicide five times. He went along to support his girlfriend but had also set bedclothes alight.

Judge Andrew Geddes jailed Hughes for two years and told her that provocation was no excuse for a serious crime.

He jailed Jones for three and a half years, saying: "Your role should have been to restrain Hughes but instead you encouraged her. Lives were put at risk by this dangerous offence."