Two teenagers have been charged with manslaughter and arson after an 88-year-old woman was killed in a fire in east London. Metropolitan police officers were called to reports of a fire at a residential address in Queens Park Road, Romford, in October where Josephine Smith was pronounced dead at the scene. Kai Cooper, 18, from Leatherhead, Surrey, and a 15-year-old boy from Southend, Essex, appeared at Thames magistrates court in Bow on Saturday charged with manslaughter. They were also charged with arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered. Both were also charged with assault by beating, relating to a separate offence on 27 October in High Road, Ilford. The teenagers were remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.