AN ARSONIST who twice set fire to her own house has been jailed for four years and branded “reckless” by police.

Ann Julie Nadin, 54, barricaded herself in a utility room and removed the door handles in what police said may have been an attempted suicide.

She was sentenced after pleading guilty to arson with intent to endanger life at Bolton Crown Court.

Firefighters installed special smoke detectors at Nadin’s home in Cemetery Road, Ramsbottom, after she set fire to a settee on June 1 last year.

A police officer, who was first on the scene, used a fire extinguisher to bring the fire under control before crews from Ramsbottom and Bury fire stations arrived.

Then, on November 13, Nadin had to be rescued after setting fire to an armchair in her front room.

A neighbour tried to get inside the house to save her but it was too dangerous, and firefighters had to pull her to safety.

The fire destroyed the chair, badly damaged the living room and caused smoke damage to the house downstairs and into some rooms upstairs.

The living room window had shattered and the window frame was destroyed, while Nadin herself suffered from serious smoke inhalation.

Detective Constable Lindsey Worrall, from Bury CID, said: “This arson may have been an attempt of Nadin’s to take her own life, but her actions were reckless and misguided.

“The neighbour who tried to help put himself in danger and so too did the firefighters who put their lives on the line for people who come to harm.

“Furthermore, there are seven terraced houses on this stretch, meaning that the fire damage endangered other householders.”