Two men were today starting five-year jail sentences after a revenge arson attack left six adults and five children trapped in a smoke-filled flat.

Two police officers smashed their way in to rescue them from the thick choking smoke.

Oliver Barker, 24, and Lee O’Reilly, 32, barricaded the only exit to the property with a bin and a pile of wood and then lit it, Bradford Crown Court heard today. They laughed at the screaming occupants, shouting: “You are going to die.”

Barker, of Freshfield Gardens, Allerton, Bradford, and O’Reilly, of Bell Dean Road, Allerton, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson said the pair started the blaze at midnight on Satur-day, June 13.

They targeted the flat, above a chip shop and Post Office, off Greenway Drive, Allerton, out of revenge.

Barker had stolen 18-year-old Jason Chapman’s phone that night and there was an altercation when he wanted it back.

Mr Nicholson said Basia Chapman, who was in the flat, saw the defendants barricading the door with wood.

Flames came from the only exit and the men, women and children inside took refuge on the balcony.

Jason Chapman collapsed with smoke inhalation and needed hospital treatment.

Mr Nicholson said another man was pulled to safety by the police officers and a woman was carried out of the flat because the floor was too hot to walk on.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said they were angry and in drink and acted from revenge and spite.

They caused terror and anguish to those in the flat and there was a real risk of death and injury, he said. “This was a deliberate, nasty action,” the judge said.