A WOMAN broke down as she relived to a court the moment she desperately tried to escape a fire as it tore through her home.

Rachael Bartlett cried as she tried to tell jurors of the terrifying moment she was woken by her bedroom door “rattling” and so much noise at the property in Whitemoor Farm, Winsor, that she believed she was being burgled.

The 34-year-old had taken the stand to give evidence against her younger sister Cathy Bartlett, who is accused of attempting to murder her in a fire as well as ripping her off to the tune of more than £100,000.

The court has been told the fire relating to 30-yearold Bartlett’s charge had in fact taken place around a month later at their mothers home in New Inn Lane, Bartley.

But prosecutors say that, despite there being no evidence, Bartlett remains a “prime suspect” for the earlier blaze which happened in the early hours of March 6. No charges have ever been brought against Bartlett as all evidence was destroyed in the ferocious blaze, the court was told.

Recalling the first blaze, Rachael told the court how she had been woken by her dog Jade who was “going frantic” barking and almost bouncing on her head.

She said: “I got out of bed and it’s really noisy. I open my door and I shouted because I think I’m being burgled.

“Everything is smoky. Jade jumped off the bed and is growling. Then all the smoke hit me in the corridor. I’m not being burgled, it is a fire.”

Sobbing, Rachael added: “I told Jade to come and I shut the door. I climbed over my bed and I could see through the blinds it was just getting light. I was trying to get Jade to come out from under the bed.

“As I opened the window, the whole place, it was just rattling. I could just feel the smoke. I couldn’t see Jade. I could hear her barking but I couldn’t see her.”

Rachael told how she threw her duvet from the window.

She said: “I tried to soften my blow as I didn’t have any clothes on. I tried to get out one way but I couldn’t fit. I couldn’t get out.”

Between cries Rachael went on to describe to jurors how she continued to try and escape through the window while trying to call Jade out.

“Jade wouldn’t come to me, she was scared because I had screamed so much. I couldn’t see her.”

Asked by prosecutor Charlie Gabb how she eventually managed to free herself, Rachael said she swung back through the window and fell.

“I could see when I was swinging back, the whole place was on fire, it was a plume of black smoke.

“I had no time. My bedroom door was rattling. I couldn’t even get dressed.”

She told the court how she wrapped herself in a throw and went towards her neighbours house, who had raised the alarm and called 999 after being woken by what she thought was children screaming.

Jurors heard how the night before the blaze, Bartlett had been to visit her sister and taken her a McDonalds meal. She had also arrived with a bottle of wine, despite Rachael having stopped drinking for several months because she felt she had a problem.

That evening, jurors heard how Bartlett had put the heating on saying she was cold, but later opened windows in the three bedroom mobile home which was owned by their father Michael, saying it was stuffy.

Asked by Mr Gabb if she remembers the window being closed, Rachael said she did not.

Bartlett, 30, who is on remand, denies attempt murder, arson with intent to endanger life and ten counts of fraud.

Proceeding.