A JILTED lover torched his former girlfriend's bed because he could not bear her new boyfriend being in it with her, a court was told yesterday.

After a binge of ten pints of beer and whisky chasers, John Stokoe, 29, poured petrol through the bedroom window at Joanne Thompson's bungalow home in Horden and threw a blazing rag after it.

Stokoe, who caused £3,000 worth of damage, told police later that he only intended to destroy the bed they shared until she dumped him, said Tim Roberts, prosecuting.

Stokoe immediately called the fire brigade to alert it to the blaze, badly imitating a woman's voice.

Miss Thompson, 23, was working in Spain on the night of the blaze. Stokoe now has a new girlfriend, Teesside Crown Court heard.

He was ashamed about involving a friend, Clint Storey, 28, who held the window open for him, said Paul Cleasby, defending.

Both pleaded guilty to the arson at Sunderland Avenue, Horden, being reckless where lives were endangered, last October 2.

Stokoe, of Matterdale Road, Peterlee, was jailed for three years and Storey, of McGuinness Avenue, Horden, was jailed for two years.

Judge Peter Fox, QC, told them: "It was your joint, albeit drunken, intention to set fire to the contents of that room and particularly the bed where you, Stokoe, had slept with your former girlfriend.

"This was a revenge attack, you Stokoe, having lost her to another man."