A schoolboy who started a fire at a Birstall flat had committed arson previously.
The 13-year-old, who appeared at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court in his school uniform, pulled a curtain through the letterbox before using a lighter to ignite it.
The boy was cautioned by police over a previous fire when he aged just 11.
He pleaded guilty to committing arson with intent to endanger life.
The blaze was started in a ground floor flat in Wesley Close on May 14.
The occupant was out and the boy, who cannot be named, pulled the curtain from inside the flat through the letter box to the outside and set fire to it.
A witness put the fire out and the boy was caught loitering nearby and arrested, prosecutor Alex Bozman said.
There was some charring to the curtain and front door frame as a result of the blaze.
Ghanzanfar Iqbal, mitigating, said: “He didn’t realise what the consequences could have been.
“He’s now aware that in the flat upstairs there was a young lady with a baby and things could have been a lot worse.”
Magistrates sentenced the boy to a nine-month referral order, meaning that he will have to sign a contract to comply with any activities required by the youth offending team.
He will have to pay £20 victim surcharge, which his mum promised will be paid out of his pocket money.
