A woman who set fire to a bedroom in her friend’s house said she was trying to light a crack pipe with a blow torch when her mattress went up in flames.

Sarah McCrudden appeared at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered.

The 30-year-old was staying in the back bedroom of her friend Adam Fletcher’s house in Clifton Street, Darwen, the court heard, when she set her mattress on fire before exiting the property, leaving Mr Fletcher and his brother Michael inside.

Prosecuting, Francis McEntee said: “Adam Fletcher was a long term friend of the defendant’s and she had moved in with him and his brother to help with the costs.

“She moved in three days prior to the incident and was given the back bedroom.

“On November 1, 2021, the defendant had been drinking most of the day.

"She’s a lady who was displaying signs of self harm that day and came into the living room threatening to harm herself with a knife.

“The knife was taken from her and she went upstairs but a short time later she came back downstairs, in the early hours of the morning, picked up an empty carrier bag and went out of the front door.

“There was nothing unusual about that and both Adam and Michael Fletcher thought she might have gone to the shop.

“However, they both noticed the lights went out (the fire service later said they had tripped), and Michael came out of his room and immediately saw the fire raging in the small bedroom, and saw the flames and panicked.”

Mr McEntee said Adam Fletcher managed to put the flames out before fire crews arrived, when it was confirmed the seat of the fire had been on the single bed and mattress.

Fire bosses said the speed at which the fire took hold excluded the likelihood of a cigarette and was far more likely to have been caused by a naked flame.

Mr McEntee went on: “Both men expressed concern as to what might have happened if the lights hadn’t tripped and what that would have meant for them.”

McCrudden, who is in custody in HMP Drake Hall in Stafford, was found in the vicinity not long after and was apprehended by the police.

She told them she had been using a blow torch to light a crack pipe which had caused the fire.

The court heard she has a poor record and prior to this had been serving a 12 month custodial sentence for a separate offence, although before that she had not committed a crime since 2013.

Offering mitigation for McCrudden, Mark Stuart told the court she was a totally different person now and had carried out a number of courses in prison.

Judge Darren Preston said: “You had been drinking and acting in an irrational manner all day, waving a knife around and making threats to yourself.

“You went upstairs and used a blow torch to light crack cocaine and set fire to your mattress.

"You didn’t do anything to put it out but left the property fully aware that Adam Fletcher and his brother were in the house.

“Thankfully the lights were tripped and the fire was discovered and Adam Fletcher was able to put it out before too much damage was caused.

“Your record is poor but this is too serious for anything other than a custodial sentence.”

McCrudden was jailed for 22 months.