A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has appeared before Blackburn magistrates on two charges of arson following fires at two houses in Meadow Street, Accrington, on consecutive nights last week.

Blackburn magistrates heard an elderly couple were asleep upstairs in one of the houses and there were four children in bed in the other when fires were started by pushing burning paper and combustibles through the letterbox.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was remanded in custody to appear before the youth court.