A JURY has heard that fire experts cannot say whether a blaze which killed a disabled mother-of-two was started deliberately or accidentally.

Teresa Ryan died of smoke inhalation in her Middlesbrough home shortly after returning from a night out with her sons to celebrate her 50th birthday.

Drug-addict burglar David McCabe is accused of murdering the vulnerable woman by setting light to her downstairs bed to cover up breaking into the house.

It is alleged the 32-year-old stole Miss Ryan's handbag, cigarettes, mobile phone and cash after waiting for her to return home on July 9 last year.

He had previously preyed on the Huntington's Disease sufferer, Teesside Crown Court heard, and stole a television after burgling her home the day before.

The prosecution says he was desperate for money for drugs and left Miss Ryan unconscious on her sofa after struggling to grab her handbag from her grasp.

He claims that there had been no confrontation, that he snatched the bag from over a door, and the fire must started by accident after he ran off.

The jury of eight women and four men has heard that the victim - who was unsteady on her feet - had once in caused a fire in her home with a cigarette.

Forensic fire investigator Sarah Griffith told the court yesterday that whether it was a "smouldering fire" or started with a naked flame, it might take time to develop.

It was almost an hour-and-a-half after Miss Ryan returned to her home in Wharton Street, North Ormesby, that a neighbour heard her fire alarm and called 999.

Ms Griffith was asked: "Can you distinguish, as a scientist, whether this was likely to have been a naked flame or something smouldering as an ignition source?"

She replied: "I am afraid I am unable to differentiate between those two possibilities . . . It leaves me in a position where I can't be exact."

McCabe, of Barrington Crescent, Middlesbrough, has admitted two charges of burglary, but denies murder, and faces a trial which is expected to last eight days.