Two teenagers have been cleared of intending to endanger a family when an arson attack gutted a home in Oxford.

However Jamie Matthews 19, Lewis Colwell, 18, have both been warned they face jail after being convicted of the lesser charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

A jury at Oxford Crown Court reached the verdicts this morning.

The pair were responsible for a lighted firework put in the letterbox of a family's home in Ramsay Road, Headington, last year. The family's home was badly damaged and they had to flee for their lives.

Both Matthews, of Manor Farm Road, and Colwell, of Downside Road, denied arson with intent to endanger life. The jury acquitted them of that charge.

Colwell also denied the alternative charge of arson being reckless whether life was endangered but was found guilty. Matthews admitted the charge.

Judge Bruce McIntyre gave both conditional bail until sentencing next month but warned they may be jailed.