Babysitter 'set fire to girls' bedrooms because they annoyed her'

A babysitter in Austin, Texas, was allegedly so annoyed with the two young children she looked after that she set their bedrooms on fire while they were away.

Martha Dreher, 57, had worked with the family for a few months before the incident and has been charged with arson, which she denies.

But the girls’ father, Glenn Williams, claims whoever started the fire had a "vendetta" against his children.

"They could have set the whole house on fire, and they actually closed the doors so the fire was maintained in those rooms and burned itself out. So it was definitely a vendetta against the two girls," Mr Williams said, according to ABC News.

No one was injured in the blaze but the Williams family is now gutting their home.