UK

Pair jailed for life for murder of four children in Manchester fire

Victims’ mother called police at least five times in the weeks before attack, court hears

Brandon, Lacie and Lia Pearson, who died following a blaze at their home in Greater Manchester. Photograph: Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire

Thu May 24 2018 - 20:27

Two men have been handed life sentences for murdering four children when they petrol bombed a family home as part of a feud with the victims’ older brother.

Zak Bolland (23) and his friend David Worrall (25) were each convicted of four counts of murder at Manchester crown court on Thursday. Each was handed four life sentences, with Bolland told he would serve a minimum term of 40 years and Worrall serving a minimum of 37.

The trial heard that at about 5am on December 11th, the men removed a fence panel from the garden of the mid-terrace house, smashed a kitchen window and threw in two lit petrol bombs.

The fire spread to block the only exit from the first floor to the ground floor as the Pearson family slept upstairs. Demi Pearson (15), her brother Brandon (8) and sister Lacie (7), who were sleeping in a front bedroom, died in the blaze. Their youngest sister Lia (3) died in hospital two days later .

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The victims' brother, Kyle Pearson (17) and his friend escaped the fire. The children's mother, Michelle Pearson (36) was seriously injured and has only recently recovered enough to be told of the deaths of her children.

Bolland's girlfriend Courtney Brierley (20) was accused of encouraging and assisting the two men with their crimes. She was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter and was given a 21-year sentence.

Speaking after the verdicts, Michelle Pearson's mother, Sandra Lever, paid tribute to her "lovely, quiet, happy-go-lucky" grandchildren. She said that her daughter would be in denial about the deaths of her children for "a long while".

The jury was told of at least five occasions when Michelle Pearson had called the police in the two weeks leading up to the attack, as an argument raged between her son Kyle and Bolland. The prosecution said “tit-for-tat attacks” resulted in her windows being smashed and a wheelie bin outside her house being set on fire.

Restraining order

The dispute started when Bolland accused Kyle of setting fire to his Ford Focus on November 25th. In a message sent to Michelle Pearson’s phone, Bolland demanded £500 payment for the destruction of his car, writing: “Fire letter box I want my 500.”

Paul Reid QC, prosecuting, said that after receiving a threat from Bolland on November 26th that he was going to "finish her house off", Michelle Pearson drilled her letterbox shut "for fear that her house might be further damaged".

Two days later, after a referral by police, the fire service fitted a letterbox cover to prevent accelerants such as petrol from being poured through the door.

In a statement to police on December 1st, which was read to the jury, Ms Pearson said she was scared of Bolland. “He’s smashed all of my windows. I know he’s capable of hurting me and damaging my property,” she said. Ms Pearson said she wanted her housing association, City West, to allow her to move house, and she asked police for a restraining order against Bolland.

An investigation of Greater Manchester police (GMP) by the Independent Office for Police Conduct was suspended pending the outcome of the trial. Asked if she felt let down by the police, Ms Lever said: “I don’t know who to blame, really. I’d say all of them, the police, social services, the council because they were all involved. They all knew about it and they all done nothing about it.”

In court, Brierley portrayed herself as a victim of domestic violence and claimed she had been ignorant of her boyfriend’s plans to firebomb the Pearson household. Worrall told the jury he had known nothing of a plan to set fire to the house, claiming instead he had thought the pair were going to set fire to the bins.

The jury was told that Bolland had a history of violence against women and an apparent fixation with fire. He had known Michelle Pearson since he was six, had been in her home and knew her children.

After his arrest, he wrote to Brierley five times from prison, telling her he loved her and asking her to back up his claim that he had thought the house was empty. She did not reply.

DCI Lewis Hughes from GMP's major incident team said the case was one of the most heartbreaking he had ever had to deal with."Understandably, the children's family will still have questions which we will continue to try and answer. Michelle Pearson is still in hospital and will be for some time to come. I wish her the very best with her recovery," he said.

“I hope achieving some justice can give her a small amount of peace in these most difficult and tragic circumstances. The children’s family should now be given the time to grieve and finally lay the children to rest.” – Guardian

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