A SERIAL arsonist with a string of previous convictions set fire to an office then watched as fire crews battled to control the blaze.

Anne Marie Ferguson, 29, stood watching on the corner drinking cider, said Yvonne Taylor, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

And when she finally admitted setting fire to the offices of solicitors Freer and Humphreys, in Baker Street, Middlesbrough, on August 16, Ferguson told police: "They deserved it."

The damage to the offices was restricted to £500, but the court was told it was her seventh fire-raising offence.

Yesterday, Ferguson admitted throwing a brick through the window and then starting the fire.

She had six previous convictions for arson, said her barrister, Robin Turton, at a previous hearing.

Ferguson, formerly of Park Road North, Middlesbrough, was told by Judge John Walford that she continued to pose a risk to the public when she had been drinking.

Jailing her for three years, the judge said: "It is apparent that this offence was also committed when you had had a drink, and you have problems which lead to your drinking and then acting impulsively.

"You bore some grudge towards the solicitors whose offices you attacked. Arson is always a serious offence because of the risks attendant upon it."