A disabled woman was stopped from getting back into her burning house to rescue her cat by a teenager.

Jane Perfect, 58, of Milton Avenue, Sutton, who is partially sighted, started screaming after her kitchen caught alight and was helped out of the house by 17-year-old Ben Bowling, who was walking past and heard her cry for help.

Mrs Perfect then tried to get back into the house where she lived with her husband Michael, to rescue her cat, Stimpy, but Mr Bowling made sure she stayed out until the fire brigade arrived.

She said: “I was on my own and I decided to do some cooking. I went into the front room and I thought it was a bit smoky and thought I’d better go check.

“The filter and the bit above the hob were in flames, so i tried to put it out, but I couldn’t.

“I just couldn’t call the fire brigade, because I couldn’t see the numbers. I also couldn’t get back in the kitchen so I got out screaming for help.”

Outside she met Mr Bowling, who always walk past her house listening to his iPod, but had left it home that day because the battery had run out of charge.

He said: “I didn’t have my iPod on so I could hear her screams and decided to check. When I got to her I brought her out, but she wanted to go back to the house to rescue her cat.

“I didn’t let her go back and called the fire brigade.”

According to Mrs Perfect, the fire fighters who arrived shortly after that said she could have died had she gone back into the house.

“I’m very glad that young man didn’t let me back in the house - he saved my life,” she said. “We hear all these things about how young people don’t care about other people, but he was wonderful.”

Stimpy the cat, was found unscathed hiding in the garden shed after the fire brigade put out the blaze.

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