'My mum died rescuing me and my siblings from house fire set by evil teenagers'

A woman whose "hero mum" died rescuing her and her siblings from a house fire after teens set their home alight says they "broke my heart - before anyone ever could". Kassie Armstrong, 19, was just three when teens Stephen Muir and Jordan Briggs, then 15 and 13, broke into her home and set it alight while the family slept.

Her mum, Angela Brown, 31, had fallen asleep with Kassie in her arms and woke when the fire alarm went off. The blaze had been started on the staircase and Angela ran through the flames with Kassie to get her to safety before going back for her brothers - Kyle, 22 and Sean, 28.

But the mum-of-five died in the fire trying to reach them - something Kassie will never forgive Muir and Briggs for. Kassie's older sister, Nichole, 30, and brother, Declan, 28, were staying with relatives and friends the night the fire was started.

Her brothers, Kyle and Sean, were rescued by the fire brigade and Muir and Briggs were sentenced to nine years for culpable homicide after they pleaded guilty at the high court in Glasgow in 2010.

Kassie, a qualified nail technician, from north Ayrshire, Scotland, said: "It was completely random [The break in and fire]. They [Muir and Briggs] had seen all the princes dresses and play toys.

"My mum had fallen asleep with me in her arms and forgotten to lock the door. They managed to break in and ransacked the house. They couldn't find anything much to steal.

"They left and lit the stairs with a baby blanket and a cushion. My mum ran to the stairs and saw it. She grabbed me and ran through with me. She went back up for the two boys and didn't come back."

The family were sleeping when the teens crept in on September 28, 2008. Kassie doesn't remember the incident but has since been told what happened after her mum had rushed her out of the house.

She said: "I ran to the next door neighbour and was screaming. The fire brigade came and rescued my brothers. They were hiding in cupboards."

Stephen Muir and Jordan Briggs were initially charged with Angela's murder which was later reduced to culpable homicide. They were sentenced to nine years but Kassie says in 2015 a reporter came to the house and told the family they had been released a year prior.

Kassie said: "I was so confused."

Her grandparents, Helen, 68, and Sandy Brown, 74, raised her but Kassie has struggled to come to terms with her loss. She said: "She didn't know the boys. It was completely random.

"She'd done nothing wrong. They broke my heart before anyone ever could."

Now, 16 years on, Kassie visits her mum's grave as much as she can and takes any signs she can of her presence. She said: "I don't really remember anything really.

"That's what hurts the most. She was an outgoing and lovely person. Every year a beautiful orange butterfly appears. Me and my gran think it's my mum. I truly believe that is there."

Kassie is looking into moving into her first home with her partner of four years. She said: "It's making me realise all the things she should be here for.

"All the achievements I'm achieving she's not here for it. The pain of not being able to remember her voice and any of her."

Kassie says she wouldn't now know the two men if they walked past her in the street. She said: "If they walked past me I wouldn't know them. That haunts me.

"It will always be murder in my eyes. It's so beyond me - how can you do something so malicious and evil?"

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