TWO boys stood and watched as an elderly woman’s Clayton West home went up in flames.

And a court was told the blaze came moments after they set fire to an outside bin with a cigarette.

The teenagers, aged 13 and 15, were before Huddersfield Youth Court yesterday each facing two charges of arson and recklessly endangering life.

Magistrates were told that Sheila Handy had to be woken by neighbours as a blaze ripped through her Holmfield Road home while she slept in the early hours of August 22.

The 77-year-old, who is deaf, was eventually able to escape the smoke-filled house and was taken to hospital for treatment.

The boys deny the charges and magistrates decided the case was suitable to be tried by them.

They will next appear before the Youth Court at Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court on December 12.

Carole Lawford, prosecuting, told magistrates that the boys, who cannot be named, were camping near the house at the time of the blaze.

She said that they had been lighting a cigarette and that as this was held out it was dropped and a bin caught fire.