A MOTHER set fire to her house following a row with her ex-husband over the care of their children.

Selina Brady, 31, downed alcohol and overdosed on diazepam tablets before she set the council-owned property in Broadwell Road, Middlesbrough, alight.

Teesside Crown Court heard that no one else was in the house at the time and Brady escaped uninjured.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said the mother had separated from her husband Michael who had access to their young children.

On August 11, last year, the pair argued over the childcare arrangements and Mr Brady took the children to his own house.

Police refused to return the children to the defendant.

Later in the evening, Brady's boyfriend called and found the house on fire. He smashed his way in through a back kitchen door.

The fire started in the lounge and Brady was in a bedroom upstairs.

Firefighters who came to tackle the blaze had to forcefully remove her.

David Lamb, for Brady, who pleaded guilty to arson, said she had "reached the end of her tether" that day.

She was now in a steady relationship with her boyfriend, had care of her oldest child, and was looking forward to a reasonably rosy future.

Judge Les Spittle said there had been no intent or recklessness with regard to endangering life and gave Brady a two-year community rehabilitation order.