A PRANK with a firework seriously backfired when a house door in Mold was set alight– as a family slept upstairs. A 17-year-old youth put a Roman candle through the letter box of the house in Beech Drive on September 7. He and others were also letting off other fireworks in the street in the early hours of the morning. But a youth court at Mold was told that when the boy heard a fire alarm, he went back to investigate. He was shocked to find the letter box had melted and the door was on fire. He helped raise the alarm and got water from next door to help douse the flames. Victim Mr Sheikh Younas was in bed asleep with his wife and his daughter and two nephews were also asleep in the property. He was woken by a nephew who told him there was smoke in the house. The boy, who cannot be publicly identified because of his age, admitted a reckless arson charge. He was placed on a nine month referral order, ordered to pay compensation of £100 with £65 costs. Alun Humphreys, prosecuting, said the victim had seen the defendant at the door. He had left by the time police arrived and a tracker dog was used to follow his route to a house in the town. When spoken to by police he said it had been an accident and he had let off a rocket in the street which went into the letter box. But that was disproved by fire service personnel and when that was put to him in interview he made a full and frank admission. He told how he had not selected the house in any way but put a firework through the letter box just to cause annoyance. water from next door. Andy Holliday, defending, said the boy was full of remorse. The fire was not foreseen or intended. But when he heard the alarm he had done his very best to put the fire out and to raise the alarm. | 
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