A TEENAGER who killed his ex-girlfriend and her sister in an arson attack has been given a life sentence.

Akmol Miah, 15, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years after being found guilty of murdering Maleha, 15, and Nabiha Masud, 21, in a house fire in Tooting last June. Miah, from Thornton Heath, was also convicted of attempting to murder three other members of the Masud family.

His accomplice, Shihabouddin Choudhury, 21, was also sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 21 years, having been convicted of the same offences.

The pair were jailed following a six-week trial at the Old Bailey during which the jury heard how Miah had torched the Masud family home in revenge after being jilted by Maleha.

They had been in a brief but non-serious relationship but when Maleha expressed a desire to end things Miah threatened her and her family.

During the trial the court heard how Miah, who was 14 at the time of the arson attack, had searched on Google a day before the blaze for "how to burn someone's house down". The court was told how Miah and Choudhury crept to the front door and poured petrol through the letterbox at 4.30am on June 21 last year.

After setting the petrol alight they left, leaving a fierce blaze to engulf the hallway and stairs, trapping family members in their bedrooms. Callously Miah, who had denied involvement in the fire, even saved a picture of the gutted house as his mobile phone screensaver.

Judge Christopher Moss told Miah when sentencing him last Friday: "I am faced with a boy who, at the age of 14, planned and carried out this murderous attack and who is still in denial."