A Chinese nanny has been executed after deliberately starting a fire that killed a mother and her three children in the eastern city of Hangzhou.

Mo Huanjing, 35, was sentenced to death for arson in February.

She had allegedly racked up significant gambling debts, and had hoped “saving” the family from the blaze would persuade them to lend her more money.

Instead, the fire in their 18th-floor apartment killed Zhu Xiaozhen and her children, aged six, nine and 11.

Lin Shengbin, her husband and the children’s father, was away on business at the time of the crime in June 2017.

Mo, who used a lighter to start the blaze in the living room, escaped.