A TEENAGER who set fire to a house in which a ten-year-old boy was sleeping had his sentence cut by appeal judges yesterday.

David Michael Hewitson, 18, caused £10,000 worth of damage when he set fire to the three-bedroom Middlesbrough home of Charlotte, Emma and Stephen Wilkinson, at midnight on March 15, last year.

Hewitson, also known as Noodle, of Ferndale Avenue, Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough, who was high on drugs and alcohol at the time, was arrested after being seen fleeing the scene.

On September 24 last year, at Teesside Crown Court, he was ordered to be detained for four years, with a four-year extended licence period, after being convicted of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

But yesterday Mr Justice Holland sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, halved Hewitson's extended licence period - during which he can be recalled to prison should he put a foot wrong - after hearing that he is a reformed character.

The judge told the court that on the night of the fire, Hewitson, who was 16 at the time, had been calling at the Wilkinson's home repeatedly, making a nuisance of himself while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

After the family had gone to bed, there was a loud bang and, rushing downstairs, they found the back of their house and an outhouse, directly under ten-year-old Stephen's bedroom, on fire.

All three members of the family escaped unharmed, but lost priceless possessions in the blaze and were forced to live apart for months while the fire damage was repaired.

Paul Newcomb, for Hewitson, told the court his client had changed his ways.

Mr Justice Holland, sitting with Judge Gerald Gordon, quoted the trial judge in describing Hewitson as "a very dangerous young man".

But he agreed to reduce the licence period from four to two years, saying a longer term was not in the public interest.