TEENAGE arsonists who started a blaze that destroyed a town's landmark building have been described as deplorable.

Two youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been sentenced after they admitted setting fire to the former Top Rank bingo hall, in Stockton High Street, during last year's firefighters' strike.

A third youth also admitted his part in the crime when he appeared in court and was remanded in custody for three weeks while pre-sentence reports are prepared.

The hall, which was built as a corn exchange in the 1880s, was one of the best-known buildings on Teesside.

Army servicemen tackled the blaze that destroyed the old bingo hall, which had been valued at about £900,000. But according to local historians, it is the building's cultural heritage that has proved the biggest loss.

Bob Harbron, who has long campaigned for a greater recognition of Stockton's historical landmarks, said the youths' sentences - a 12-month supervision order and surveillance order - were totally inadequate.

He said: "The judiciary has lost a magnificent chance to send a message to people starting fires which can kill, maim and destroy, that they will be severely punished.

"These youngsters have essentially got away with destroying a piece of our cultural heritage right in the town centre. What they did was deplorable.

"They should be ashamed. This building was built as a corn exchange and as such was one of the most important sites on Teesside. It is also housed one of the first moving-picture cinemas which were shown there as part of a travelling side show in the late Victorian period."

Teesside Crown Court was told that servicemen manning nine Green Goddesses fought the inferno throughout the night on November 28 last year.

The seat of the blaze was later found to be in the auditorium and sometime after the incident two of the youths - aged 14 and 15 - handed themselves in to police and confessed to starting the fire.

In mitigation, the youths' defence lawyers said they both came from difficult backgrounds and had only started a small fire to light their way after breaking into the hall.

Judge Tony Briggs told them: "When you set fire to a building somebody has to put it out . . . and they put their lives at risk and might have suffered a horrible death as a result."

They had, he added, also caused great distress to the building's owners who were about to transform the venue into licensed premises