Two teenagers set fire to a house by putting a lit firework through the letter box on Halloween, a court heard today.

Jamie Matthews, 19, and Lewis Colwell, 18, deny arson with intent to endanger life following the blaze in Ramsay Road, Headington, in November.

Oxford Crown Court heard David Norbrook, and his wife and two boys, then aged three and six, were asleep inside the house, but escaped uninjured.

Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said Matthews, of Manor Farm Road, Horspath, and Colwell, of Downside Road, Risinghurst, had met friends in Quarry Park recreation ground beforehand.

He said: "The rocket must have flown around the kitchen, which is the room which the letter box feeds into, and must have set fire to several parts of the room. Fortunately, the fire alarm inside the house was set off, so Mr Norbrook was woken up. He came down and saw the kitchen in flames."

Matthews told police he had put the firework on the letter box, rather than through it, but Colwell had lit it. Mr Coombe said Colwell had written a letter to the victims expressing remorse, but claiming a friend said the firework would just cause a bang and scare people.

The court heard Matthews had admitted a further charge of reckless arson. Colwell has denied the same charge.

The trial continues.