Cathy Bartlett has been jailed for 25 years after trying to kill sister Rachael at a fire in the New Forest

Cathy Bartlett cried in the dock as Judge Jane Miller QC told Bartlett, 30, that she was "evil" as well as calculating and devious in her plot to kill sister Rachael.

The mum of two now faces at least half of that time behind bars without seeing her two little girls grow up.

Cathy Bartlett

The full impact on Rachael Bartlett was laid bare to the court in a lengthy victim impact statement that was read out on the instructions of the judge.

It told how Rachael had been left devastated and was suffering complex medical problems as a result of being caught in two fires within five weeks in which she almost lost her life twice.

The court heard how she now suffers from complex post traumatic stress disorder and is left exhausted. A psychologist report told how she will suffer lasting effects for many years to come, including flashbacks and nightmares and the failure to maintain a relationship because of an "inability to trust".

Rachael's statement also told how her family had been torn apart and that she felt her parents blamed her for supporting the prosecution against the sister she loved and trusted.

As previously reported, Bartlett was found guilty of attempting to murder her elder sister Rachael who she also ripped off to the tune of more than £100,000.

The 30-year-old was warned she faced a lengthy jail term for what the court heard was a "significantly premeditated" crime that had serious aggravating factors.

The video above shows her stealing petrol from a service station which was used to start the fire.

Jurors at Winchester Crown Court took two days to return their unanimous verdicts, read to the court as Rachael, 34, was heard sobbing from the public gallery.

Just a few seats away from her sat her mum and dad, France's and Michael, who have stood by Bartlett and given evidence for her defence.

As reported, the first blaze happened in March this year at the home of their father Michael, in Whitemoor Lane, Winsor, which was razed to the ground in the early hours of March 6.

Judge Miller told the court following the guilty verdicts that she believed Bartlett was responsible for setting the ferocious fire, fearing her treachery of her own sibling was about to be uncovered although there is no evidence to prove it as all evidence was destroyed in the ferocious fire.

It was a miracle that Rachael survived, the jury was told, and she had her dog Jade to thank for the fact she escaped with her life from the burning mobile home.

The second blaze broke out a month later, in the early hours of the morning after Easter Monday, when a "calculated and devious" Bartlett poured petrol on the stairs of her mother Frances' home in New Inn Lane, and set it alight, having first disabled a working smoke alarm.

Rachael only survived after pulling herself through a Velux window onto the roof, from where she plunged to the concrete below after losing her grip.

The motive, the court heard, was because Bartlett was hours away from being found out by Rachael, who was set to meet with her bank where she would have discovered her accounts had been plundered.

Bartlett, a mum of two, had taken more than £130,000 and spent tens of thousands of pounds on Saints hospitality tickets, England rugby tickets, posh hotels and expensive vodka - lavishing her generosity on a lover, friends and even people she didn't know.

Mitigating for Bartlett, who had admitted stealing more than £40,000 from her father while she gave evidence in court, Andy Houston said letters and references on behalf of his client described a woman "of great kindness and generosity".

He said Bartlett had made great progress on remand, losing weight and having counselling. She would now be punished by not seeing her two little girls grow up, he added.

Judge Jane Miller QC told Bartlett that she would no longer have the chance to "exploit" Rachael while behind bars.

Jailing her she described how the she had attempted murder "for gain", adding that it was her belief she had tried to kill Rachael.

Describing Rachael's initial disbelief that Bartlett could possibly be responsible for starting the blazes, She said: "who could think that of a sister they loved so much?"

She told Bartlett that she had "engineered" the vents leading to the fire on the morning after Easter Monday, ploughing Rachael with booze and sleeping tablets.

Describing her as "manipulative" Judge Miller said Bartlett had "mounted dishonesty on dishonesty" and had been "completely ruthless" in taking as much money as she could from her sister and her father, from whom she stole more than £40,000.

Talking to Bartlett who sat crying in the dock, she told her: "I feel sorry for your parents. They have been supporting the wrong daughter. It is Rachael who deserves their compassion not you and I hope they will realise their injustice."

Judge Miller added that she hoped in time Rachael would find the strength to forgive her parents but told Bartlett she had ruined their relationship and torn the family apart.

She told Bartlett: "You intended to burn your sister alive" adding that her deviousness was present even then - after she took an expensive poncho belonging to Rachael so it was jot lost in the fire.

The court heard from Judge Miller that the fire service had been very clear in their facts, that Rachael would we'll have died in the fire at New Inn Lane had the door to the stairs where the fire was started not been closed.

She handed Bartlett 25 years for the attempted murder of her sister, plus two years for every count of fraud and theft to run concurrently.