Last updated at 12:58, Monday, 06 August 2012

A mother has appeared before a judge at Carlisle Crown Court today accused of setting fire to her home while her two-year-old daughter was inside.

Deborah Ann Donald, 34, of Wastwater Avenue, Workington, is accused of setting fire to the front door of her home, being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

She also faces a charge of perverting the course of justice by naming two women who she claimed were responsible for the fire.

The charges against her came after firefighters were called to her semi-detached house, owned by Derwent & Solway Housing Association, just after 4am on July 17.

Donald and her daughter were taken to the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven suffering from suspected smoke inhalation and later discharged.

During the three-minute preliminary hearing - consisting only of administrative arrangements - Donald spoke only to confirm her name.

She will not be asked to enter any pleas to the charges until she next appears in court, for a plea and case management hearing on September 24.

She was remanded in custody.

First published at 12:57, Monday, 06 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk