Two arsonists who set a young family’s Dagenham house on fire after making a phone call threatening to leave “everybody dead” have been jailed for a total of 10 years.

Jibrin Usman, 26, helped his friend Daniel Chambers, 29, to pour petrol through the front door of the home to settle a petty squabble, Snarebrook Crown Court heard.

The family were forced to jump out of windows and throw their young children to safety after waking at 3am to find the house in Sparrow Green ablaze and filled with thick smoke.

Brian Reece, prosecuting, referred to the threat, saying: “‘Your wife, dead, your kids, dead, everybody dead’ – that could so easily have been the result rather than just the intended consequences of this fire.”

Chambers, of Cannington Road, Dagenham, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger the lives of all six residents, and was given an indeterminate sentence for the protection of the public with a minimum period of six years.

The court heard he is already serving an indeterminate sentence for stabbing Usman in the neck with a screwdriver days after they started the fire together.

Nigerian Usman, of Marsham Street, Maidstone Kent, was jailed for four years for his lesser role in the arson attack and now faces automatic deportation after he completes his sentence.

The court heard that Chambers had met victim Roger Bisek some time before, when they had both worked at a car wash, but they had fallen out after arguing.

Chambers and Usman, were caught on CCTV cameras stealing petrol a few hours before the fire started at Mr Bisek’s home in the early hours of August 22 last year.