A TEENAGER who admitted starting a fire because she wanted to die could be sent to a mental hospital on the orders of a judge.

Two juries had helped to decide the fate of 18-year-old Emma Grant, who was being cared for at The Hall residential home in Hamstreet, near Ashford, when she set fire to bedding in her room last November.

The first panel at Maidstone Crown Court heard evidence from two psychiatrists before deciding that Miss Grant was under a disability and therefore could not be tried on the allegation of arson, as she was mentally unfit to plead.

Then a second jury was brought into court to decide whether she did the act alleged. And after hearing evidence in the form of a series of statements read by prosecutor Caroline Knight, it took them just a few minutes to decide that she did.

Just a day earlier, said members of staff, she had barricaded herself in her room, saying: "I want to die. I'll burn the place down with me in it."

One of the carers, Judy Briggs, who discovered the fire and raised the alarm, recalled that she asked the girl if she was all right and Miss Grant replied: "Yeah. You should have left me in there."

She then handed over a yellow cigarette lighter that she had found, saying that was what she used. Later, when police officers asked her why she had started the fire, she told them: "I've got no friends."

When asked if she understood the danger of fire, she said she didn't.

Miss Grant had written a note saying she was sorry she had started the fire, said Miss Knight.

The hearing was adjourned for four weeks to enable Miss Grant to be assessed for the making of an order under the Mental Health Act.