A JUDGE has jailed a girl partly to keep her away from her parents, he told a court.

The 14-year-old girl from leafy Harrogate in North Yorkshire, who cannot be named, started a fire which caused £1m worth of damage.

But Judge Paul Hoffman, Recorder of York Crown Court, blamed "woefully inadequate" parenting for the girl's actions.

He told the girl her parents had failed her as he sentenced her to three years detention for arson.

The girl's parents shook their heads as Judge Hoffman attacked their parenting.

He said they let their daughter "roam around at all hours of the day and night," drink alcohol and take cannabis.

She had been excluded from school for fighting, throwing furniture and rows with teachers.

Judge Hoffman said her father had ignored parenting orders and said he had failed the girl's 15-year-old brother who is subject to an Asbo.

The judge said her parent's failed to ensure the girl wore a hearing aid she has needed for years. She now faces surgery as an adult.

Judge Hoffman addressed the girl in court. He said: "You are unhappy living with your father and his girlfriend and your home environment is the lynchpin of all other areas of your life.

"Without a stable nurturing home, adequate parenting and appropriate role models you will continue to be highly vulnerable, prone to impulsive and unpredictable and pose a risk to the public."

The judge said he locked up the teenager with "profound regret." However he saw no way she could improve while living with either parent.

York Crown Court heard the girl, 13 at the time, started a fire in Harrogate town centre in the early hours of December 21.

She set fire to cardboard boxes in the doorway of a Next store. It took her five attempts to set the cardboard on fire but she panicked and fled when it properly took hold.

David Bradshaw, prosecuting, said the fire caused nearly £1m damage to Next's shop and stock and spread to the men's clothing shop next door causing a further £85,000 damage.

Henry Prosser, mitigating, said the fire was an older girl's idea. The accused had never denied what she had done.

Mr Prosser said: "The local authority has let this family slip through its fingers. Only since her arrest has there been any intervention in any meaningful way."

After the case a North Yorkshire Council spokesman said it was waiting for a transcript of the court proceedings and would consider the matter then.

The teenage girl, who was small and slight, wore a black trouser suit and white shirt. Before the hearing she stood outside the court smoking with her father and other relatives.

In court she sat between her father and mother rather than in the dock.

She started to cry when the security guards came to lead her away.