A THUG from Carlisle has been jailed after he admitted an arson offence at the home of a pregnant woman and a terrifying robbery with an accomplice.

The city's crown court heard how 28-year-old Anthony Moorhead - whose offending prompted a crime-fighting charity to offer a £1,000 reward for information leading to his capture - committed the robbery with his friend Ian Wilkinson, also 28.

After barging into the home of their 23-year-old victim, Moorhead brandished a lighter as he told the man: "Get your XBox or I'll light this and burn your house down and you with it." Later that same day, Moorhead pushed a lit firework through a pregnant woman's front door.

Both men pleaded guilty to robbery and Moorhead also admitted an arson while being reckless of whether life was endangered.

Jeremy Grout-Smith, prosecuting, said the robbery victim Harry Sayce was at home on June 5 when he heard a loud banging on his front door. He heard a male voice yell: "Open the door or I'll break it down and put the windows through."

He did open the door, seeing Moorhead and Wilkinson. The two men burst in, Moorhead clutching the lighter as he demanded the XBox. They confiscated the victim's phone before he could call for help. Moorhead told Mr Sayce: "If you phone the police, I'll come back here and hurt you.

"I know a lot of people in Carlisle and Morton and Raffles."

In his victim impact statement, Mr Sayce said he was now too afraid to return to his flat.

"He doesn't feel safe in his own home," said Mr Grout-Smith. "He's been staying with family and he is not yet ready to be on his own. He wants to start a new life away from Carlisle."

Moorhead committed the arson two hours after the robbery in Ashness Drive, Morton. He banged on the door and yelled before using the firework. "The flat just filled with smoke," said the woman, pointing out that front door was her only way out of the property.

In her statement, she said: "My baby was at risk and that really does play on my mind." She said she could not believe that Moorhead, who knew she was pregnant, would do something so stupid.

Brendan Burke, for Moorhead, 84 offences on his criminal record, said: "The only substantive mitigation lies in his pleas of guilty.

"He was involved in a situation of personal crisis when these offences were committed weeks earlier, having experienced the suicide of his close friend." Moorhead had also himself been the victim of a serious offences. Mr Burke added:"He wishes to extend an expression of absolute remorse to the court."

Marion Weir, for Wilkinson, whose criminal record comprises of 41 offences, said alcohol had been a constant feature of his offending and that he would not have committed the robbery had he not taken alcohol and other substances that day.

The barrister added: "He was put out of his home at 16 and he has taken substances since the age of 10 and there is an established and highly problematic pattern of behaviour." Prison was a welcome relief for Wilkinson, who had lived in 21 different hostels over the last years, she added. Accepting both men were sorry, Judge David Potter jailed Wilkinson for three years and Moorhead for three years eight months.