A DEPRESSED and emotional woman who started a house fire which put her neighbours' lives in peril has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Tracy Wood, 32, lit a duvet in her mid-terrace property in Park Avenue, Accrington, and the blaze gutted the room.

Wood alerted the fire service and police but failed to alert two brothers who lived in an adjoining property and they had to be evacuated, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Wood, said to have been left devastated by the death of her baby son and to have had trouble with drink and debts, was given a 12- month jail term, suspended for two years with two years' supervision.

Sentencing, Judge Barbara Watson told the defendant, who had no previous convictions, what she had done was serious and troubling, but she had been trying to deal with her problems and was said to be at low risk of reoffending.

Wood, of Evesham Close, Accrington, admitted arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, last September.

John Beggs, prosecuting, told the court at the time the defendant lived with her then partner Anthony Wynne and was said to have set fire to curtains on a previous occasion.

Both had been to a friend's house but the defendant had left before him and rang to ask when he would be home. Five minutes later she called again, saying she had set light to the bed.

Three fire engines arrived at around 5.15am and the blaze was "well established".

Mr Beggs said it took one hour 45 minutes to put out the fire and it could have spread into adjoining properties through the loft. One of the houses next door was occupied by two brothers who were in at the time.

The defendant later admitting using the lighter and said all of the sudden the fire "just went" and she had to get out.

Judith McCullough, defending, said Wood had had a difficult and troubled background.

All her difficulties seemed to stem from the tragic and premature death of her baby. She had been devastated and also felt guilt as she took the decision to turn off the ventilator.

She would drink heavily from time to time but had always been able to hold down a job and did not drink during the day.