GUILTY UK - Michelle, 36, Demi, 14, Brandon, 8, Lacie, 7, & Lia Pearson, 3, die in arson fire, 11 Dec 2017

[margarita25]

This is sooooooo awful, no words.

I hope those babies were unconscious quickly from smoke inhalation and didn't feel the pain of being burned. I burned the tip of my finger the other night and it was absolutely excruuuuuuciating....monsters....how could someone....?


I wish I didn't click on this thread.

 

[Ewood66]

This is tragic and horrific. These sick individuals came back after the police had been called, attended and taken statements... when the family was asleep. The fire service was called about 5am IIRC. The attack came when they were the most vulnerable. Having a gun as "protection" would not have changed the outcome IMHO.

I am not even sure how gun ownership relates to this tragedy, but given that it's been brought up, I will add that thankfully I live in a country where gun ownership is tightly controlled and I feel very safe, much safer than if any Tom, Dick or Harry could have one, because there are far too many Dicks in this world.

 

[DakotaMayi]

This is tragic and horrific. These sick individuals came back after the police had been called, attended and taken statements... when the family was asleep. The fire service was called about 5am IIRC. The attack came when they were the most vulnerable. Having a gun as "protection" would not have changed the outcome IMHO.

I am not even sure how gun ownership relates to this tragedy, but given that it's been brought up, I will add that thankfully I live in a country where gun ownership is tightly controlled and I feel very safe, much safer than if any Tom, Dick or Harry could have one, because there are far too many Dicks in this world.

I will offer a guess that you are in the UK?

Guns is really not what this thread is about. I think the OP about self protection was just pointing out that this family were not protected by LE given the fact that there were previous incidents and what seems no consequences, therefore that gave these monsters the time to commit this awful act.

There is a major difference in the use of guns from the US to the UK so lets avoid confrontation...

But self protection or not, these poor children have lost their lives. I'm sorry for everyone affected.

 

[Rosegold68]

Ridiculous to suggest guns as the answer!!

 

[Ewood66]

I will offer a guess that you are in the UK?

Guns is really not what this thread is about. I think the OP about self protection was just pointing out that this family were not protected by LE given the fact that there were previous incidents and what seems no consequences, therefore that gave these monsters the time to commit this awful act.

There is a major difference in the use of guns from the US to the UK so lets avoid confrontation...

But self protection or not, these poor children have lost their lives. I'm sorry for everyone affected.

No, not from the UK... I am an Aussie. Not being confrontational just adding my opinion to things that have already been raised... and as an Aussie, I tend to say things as I see them. No ill-will intended, just my own honest opinion.

 

[margarita25]

BBM. :gaah:

( Watched the house burn? With the kids inside? OMG get me out of here. Can't do this thread. Reminder to self, do not click here.)

 

[DakotaMayi]

( OMG get me out of here. Can't do this thread. Reminder to self, do not click here.)

Me too Margarita, me too and I started the thread! :scared:

 

[Trident]

Yes, that’s clear. To your original point, how do you think they should have better protected themselves?

I gave a lot of thought to this post before I answered. A knife, a sword, a gun probably wouldn't have made a difference. However, it seems these predators/perps knew the family was helpless. Perhaps, only a thought, if they had known the mother was armed, gasp a gun that kills people, they may have thought twice. Maybe they wouldn't have, some people are sick, as these were. However, IF there is a thought of self protection, of harm to the perps, PERHAPS they may have thought twice.

I don't know the answer here, but I do know I would have been forearmed, if possible, and very vigilant. This world is a sick place and God helps those who helps themselves, and sometimes if you do, you get arrested, but at least you and your children aren't dead.

This is a tough question and I hope I am making some sense to some people.

 

[scapa]

They were in court today Looks like trial is set for the spring.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-42365511

Two men and a woman have appeared in court charged with murdering four children in a house fire in Salford.
David Worrall, 25, of no fixed address, Zak Bolland, 23, and Courtney Brierley, 20, both of Worsley, appeared at Manchester Crown Court.
They are accused of killing siblings Lia Pearson, three, Lacie, seven, Brandon, eight, and Demi, 15.
All three are also accused of arson and the attempted murders of the children's mother Michelle and two 16-year-olds.
They were remanded in custody until 9 March for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
A trial date was set for 30 April at the same court, with the trial expected to last between three and four weeks.

 

[Linskid]

Can anyone find if this is about to go to trial?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KarenUK]

Zak Bolland has plead guilty to arson, but denies murder and attempted murder at Manchester Crown Court.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/man-23-admits-arson-after-12454454

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]12:45JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Judge warns jurors not to 'get emotional'

After the jurors were sworn in, the judge, Mr Justice Willim Davis, sent the panel home for the day and told them the trial would begin on Tuesday morning.
He warned them to guard against getting emotional.
He said: “When you are listening to the case, please take an open mind. You have already heard it’s about a fire in which a number of people died.
“It will be very easy once you start listening to the case to start getting emotional but that’s something you must guard against.
“The reaction we want from you at the end is one of dispassionate analysis of the evidence and to consider whether the evidence requires you conclude that the defendant’s are guilty and you can’t do that on the basis of emotion.”
He said it was ‘inevitable’ they would have an emotional reaction ‘unless you have no emotion at all’ but he asked them to be ‘dispassionate’.

[/FONT]https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...-news/zak-bolland-walkden-fire-trial-14594751

 

[Legally Bland]

I have no idea how Bolland thinks the jury will separate the arson and murder charges.
________________

[FONT=&amp]DAY ONE BEGINSJOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Trial to begin

The jury has been called in and the trial is about to get underway.


[/FONT][FONT=&amp]10:33JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Windows had been smashed previously ‘as part of a continuing feud’

Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul Reid QC told the jury the Pearson family lived at an an ‘ordinary small mid-terrace’ house in Jackson Street in Walkden.
Demi Pearson, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie seven slept in a large upstairs bedroom at the front of the house while their mother Michelle slept in a rear bedroom with her youngest Lia, aged three, in the cot beside her.
Her eldest Kyle slept in the third, smallest bedroom at the front of the house, the jurors were told.
By the time of the alleged arson attack just before 5am on Monday December 11 anyone passing the house would have noticed the windows at the front of the house were boarded up and the wheelie bin in the front garden had previously been set on fire, Mr Reid told the jury.
Those windows had been smashed by one of the defendants, Zak Bolland, two weeks previously on November 26 ‘as part of a continuing feud’ with Kyle Pearson, the QC told the court.
The wheelie bin had been torched two days before the fatal fire on Saturday, December 9, the court is told.
The person who set fire to the bin wasn’t identified but the jurors were told that Kyle Pearson later told the police that Zak Bolland ‘was the only person I was having trouble with’.


[/FONT][FONT=&amp]10:36JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Only three of the people in the house survived

Mr Reid tells the court:

By 5am on Monday December 11 the house at Jackson Street was ablaze. Despite the prompt attendance of the Greater Manchester Fire Service, only three of the people in the house survived
Kyle Pearson and his friend Bobby Harris, who was staying at the house and was sleeping in Kyle’s bedroom, managed to get out of Kyle’s bedroom window and jump to the ground
Kyle’s three siblings in the bedroom next to his perished in the fire. Their apparently lifeless bodies were recovered by the firefighters who attended and battled their way through the heat, smoke and flames"

​

[/FONT]https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]10:37JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Mum remains 'very poorly in hospital'

The prosecutor continued:

During the fire Mrs Michelle Pearson made her way with her youngest daughter Lia from the back bedroom to the bathroom, also situated at the rear of the house.
Firefighters were able to rescue them from the house. Sadly, however, Lia died two days later. The children’s mother, Michelle is still alive but is still very poorly in hospital.
​

The QC went on:

​The prosecution say t​he four youngest children died because of the behaviour of Zak Bolland, David Worrall and Courtney Brierley in circumstances that the prosecution say amount to murder
​

The court was told Mr Bolland and Miss Brierley were ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ while Mr Worrall was a friend of both.


[/FONT][FONT=&amp]10:38JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Court told two defendants ‘threw two petrol bombs into the house’

Mr Bolland and Mr Worrall both went to the rear of the house in Jackson Street shortly before 5am on December 11 armed with ‘home-made petrol bombs’ which they were said to have put together at Mr Bolland’s home in nearby Blackleach Drive earlier that night, the court was told.
Miss Brierley was with them that night and ‘encouraged and assisted them’, Mr Reid told the court.
The two male defendants broke a kitchen window at the rear of the house and ‘threw two petrol bombs into the house’, said the QC.
One of them landed near the stairs at the front of the house and the ensuing fire blocked the only exit for those on the first floor via the ground floor, the jurors were told.


[/FONT][FONT=&amp]10:41JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]The fire 'cut off the normal means of escape from the upper floor'

Everyone was asleep upstairs ‘as far as anyone can tell’ when the pair threw petrol bombs into the house, said Mr Reid.
“The fire from the explosion of the bottle near the front door and foot of the stairs cut off the normal means of escape from the upper floor,” said Mr Reid.
Kyle Pearson, the court heard, believed he was woken by the sound of his mother shouting ‘fire’.
He and his friend Bobby Harris climbed out of the bedroom window and onto a canopy over the front door before jumping to the ground, the jurors were told.


[/FONT][FONT=&amp]10:44JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]"She coughed three times in the thick smoke and then appeared to fall away from the window"

Before he jumped and as he stood on the canopy, Kyle Pearson could see torch light coming from the adjoining bedroom where his sisters had been sleeping, the court heard. He believed the light was coming from his sister Demi’s phone.
Mr Reid said:

She came to the bedroom window with her phone light on. She coughed three times in the thick smoke and then appeared to fall away from the window. She, Brandon and Lacie died in their bedroom.

​

[FONT=&amp]10:45JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Court told of an ‘escalation in tit-for-tat attacks’ between Kyle Pearson and defendant Zak Bolland

Mr Reid pointed to an ‘escalation in tit-for-tat attacks’ between Kyle Pearson and Zak Bolland ‘which the prosecution say ​led to a decision on that night by these three defendants to go far beyond anything that had previously taken place and to target not only the Pearsons’ house but to petrol bomb it at a time when they knew that it was occupied by the Pearson family who were asleep in their beds upstairs’.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]10:46JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Mr Bolland blamed Kyle Pearson for torching his car[/h]They had been friends but ‘things turned sour’ after Mr Bolland’s car was torched on November 25 and Mr Bolland blamed Kyle Pearson, the court heard.
Mr Bolland is said to have sent a text to Michelle Pearson’s phone saying: “FIRE LETTER BOX I WANT MY £500.”
Using his mother’s mobile as he didn’t have his own, the court heard Kyle Pearson sent a replying saying he would not be giving him the money and that Mr Bolland wouldn’t do anything to their home.
Kyle Pearson, the court heard, them deleted those texts from his mother’s handset.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
[/FONT]

[/FONT]

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]10:57JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Mr Bolland demanded money and smashed house windows, court hears

The next day, Mr Bolland called his adversary a ‘grass’ in a text his sent to Michelle Pearson’s phone and demanded his ‘5 ton’ or she would be ‘getting it’, the jurors were told.
Mrs Pearson replied and said he would not be getting the money and that it was nothing to do with her son, the court was told.
A male voice, the jurors were told, then called the mobile and told Mrs Pearson ‘I want the money’ before she hung up. The phone rang again later but she didn’t answer.
Later that morning, at about 9am, Mr Bolland smashed the front windows of the house and two panes of glass in the front door with a hammer, Mr Reid told the court.
When Mrs Pearson shouted at him from an upstairs window, the court heard the defendant answered ‘I want five ton by 5 o’clock’ and walked off.
The incident is said to have left two of the Pearson family children in tears.


11:26JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Kyle Pearson ‘wasted no time in retaliating’, court hears

Kyle Pearson ‘wasted no time in retaliating’, the jurors were told.
He and his friend Bobby Harris armed themselves with a golf club and a stick and went around to Mr Bolland’s home on Blackleach Drive and smashed the glass in the living room window and front door, according to the prosecutor.
Kyle Pearson was met at the address by an older brother and a friend, the jury was told.
The defendant Courtney Brierley is said to have come out of the house armed with hammer and an axe while Mr Bolland’s pitbull type dog was ‘on the loose’.
Scuffles broke out and Mr Bolland attacked one of Kyle’s friends with a weapon while Courtney Brierley came running at the teenage Pearson with a weapon after someone had struck her in the face, the court heard.



11:29JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Mr Bolland alleged to have sent text to Michelle Pearson threatening to ‘finish off’ the house, jury told

Michelle Pearson reported the damage to her house to the police but that afternoon, according to the prosecution, Mr Bolland sent her messages including ‘are you putting in statements or what?’ and ‘you got my doe’.
Another text Mr Bolland is alleged to have sent the mother threatened to ‘finish off’ the house and it was said he went further by saying he would tell police she had smashed his windows so social services would remove her children.
Kyle Pearson saw some of these messages but deleted them without showing them to his mother, the court was told.
“He told his mother that ​Zak ​Bolland was threatening to petrol bomb their house,” the prosecutor told the court.



11:32JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Court hears Michelle Pearson reported threat to police and drilled letterbox shut

Michelle Pearson reported the threat to the police and two officers attended their home, the jurors were told.
She drilled the letterbox shut ‘as a temporary measure’ and later the fire service fitted a cover to the letterbox to stop petrol being poured through it, said Mr Reid.
The police started an investigation into the damage at Jackson Street but decided not to take action because of a ‘misunderstanding’ over whether Michelle Pearson was willing to give evidence in court, said the QC.
Mr Bolland was told about the decision not to press charges and on the evening of Friday December 1 he and Courtney Brierley went to Jackson Street, the court heard.
Mr Bolland is said to have laughed and shouted ‘grass’ to Mrs Pearson who could see the two defendants and a third person from a first floor window, the court was told.
Courtney Brierley, the court heard, was threatening to smash Mrs Pearson’s and her daughter Demi’s heads in.
Kyle Pearson joined in and threatened to punch Mr Bolland’s head in, the jurors were told.
The incident was reported to the police and Mrs Pearson made it clear she had been willing to go to court over the smashed windows and she went on to ask for a restraining order, Mr Reid told the court.


[/FONT][FONT=&quot]11:37JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Wheelie bin set on fire two days before house blaze[/h]The wheelie bin in the front garden of the house on Jackson Street was set on fire just before 6am on December 9 and ‘GRISS’ had been spray painted under the window, the court heard.
​It was probably an attempt to write ‘grass’, said Mr Reid.
Firefighters put out the burning wheelie bin and police also attended, the juror​s ​were told.
Graffiti appeared at various locations in Walkden saying ‘Zak Bolland is a nonce’ and ‘Zak Bolland is a grass’, said Mr Reid.
“Kyle Pearson for his part​told police that he was not responsible for this,” said the QC.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]

[/FONT]

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]11:41JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Mr Bolland told friends he'd had a ‘barney’ with someone and he wanted to go and ‘batter him’, court hears

On the Sunday, the day before the fatal fire, Mr Bolland and his girlfriend Ms Brierley had been at his home and were joined later by David Worrall and two other men who had been watching the Manchester derby, the court was told.
When they ran out of beer, the five people went to an off-licence and CCTV captured them at an off-licence where they bought ​more​ beer at about 10.27pm, the QC told the court.
The drinking carried on back at Mr Bolland’s house and he is said to have mentioned he had had a ‘barney’ with someone and he wanted to go and ‘batter him’, the jurors are told.
Mr Worrall is said have armed himself with a foot-long pole and the four men went to the house on Jackson Street at around 00.38am on December 11 some four hours before fatal fire, the court was told.



11:45JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Mr Bolland turned up at house shouting and then kicked door, court told

Michelle was woken at ​00​.40am and the court​ heard ​that Mr Bolland, outside, said: “Get your son out here, boot the door off, I am going to break his jaw. I am going to do your house.”
The court heard Michelle Pearson told the defendant to go away and suggested ​s​he had called the police.
Mr Bolland kicked the door while Mr Worrall struck it with the pole, the jurors were told.
Kyle Pearson, in his bedroom with friend Bobby Harris, heard the exchange and also heard Mr Bolland say he was going to ‘kill us all’, Mr Reid said.
Bobby Harris is said to have heard words to the effect: “Watch,all your family’s getting it, they’re all gonna die.”
After about five minutes, the four men are said to have left the scene and Mrs Pearson called police and gave them a statement.



11:46JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Kyle Pearson wedged bedroom door shut with internal door

Mr Reid said:

Kyle Pearson was really worried that the group would return so he got a​n internal​ door that was not attached to a frame and wedged it behind the front door so that it would not open.​
​

He added:

​He and Bobby Harris went to sleep in the bunk beds in the small front bedroom. Michelle Pearson and Demi went back to bed in the back bedroom and the large front bedroom.
​

[/FONT]https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[KarenUK]

Thanks for the updates, Legally Bland - I'm at work so can't really follow it closely, I've just logged on in my lunch break so it's a great help

So upsetting to think these children were killed over £500

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]12:19JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Two defendants bought 1.23 litres of unleaded petrol, court told

The jurors were told about ‘an important prosecution witness’ Abigail Toone, who was ‘used by the three defendants to drive them to Jackson Street so they could carry out the arson attack’.
​She was said to have spent two or three hours with them that night.​
She said the two male defendants were ‘really loud, aggressive’ that night and Worrall repeatedly asked Bolland for ‘a key’ which is a slang term for cocaine, the jurors were told.
Mr Worrall clenched his fists and said ‘I want to slice his face open’, according to the witness.
She was told to take the male defendants to a petrol station where they purchased 1.23 litres of unleaded petrol for £1.50, the court heard.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]12:34JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'The men pulled their hoods up, and got out of the car with their home-made petrol bombs'

Ms Toone drove the men back and they went into Mr Bolland’s home on Blackleach Drive, leaving an axe and a machete in the back of the car, Mr Reid told the jury.
When they returned they were carrying glass bottles with tissue tucked into the tops, said the QC, leaving the witness in ‘shock at what she was seeing’.
Courtney Brierley, giving directions, sat beside Ms Toone in the front while the two male defendants got in the back of the car, the court heard.
After driving to Alexandra Road, Courtney Brierley is ​alleged to have urged​ the men to pull their hoods up before they launched the alleged arson attack.
“The men pulled their hoods up, got out of the car with their home-made petrol bombs and ran off up Jackson Street,” said Mr Reid.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]12:34JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'The men pulled their hoods up, and got out of the car with their home-made petrol bombs'

Ms Toone drove the men back and they went into Mr Bolland’s home on Blackleach Drive, leaving an axe and a machete in the back of the car, Mr Reid told the jury.
When they returned they were carrying glass bottles with tissue tucked into the tops, said the QC, leaving the witness in ‘shock at what she was seeing’.
Courtney Brierley, giving directions, sat beside Ms Toone in the front while the two male defendants got in the back of the car, the court heard.
After driving to Alexandra Road, Courtney Brierley is ​alleged to have urged​ the men to pull their hoods up before they launched the alleged arson attack.
“The men pulled their hoods up, got out of the car with their home-made petrol bombs and ran off up Jackson Street,” said Mr Reid.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]12:35JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]David Worrall’s first words alleged to be: “Oh, God,that were real weren’t it?”

Ms Toone, the court was told, was told by Courtney Brierley to turn the car round and lock it as they waited in front of a ginnel.
When the men ran back a few minutes later, the court heard Bolland said: “Go, go, go, drive to mine, go to mine.”
After they had returned, David Worrall’s first words were alleged to be: “Oh, God,that were real weren’t it?”
He was ​alleged​ to have uttered these words ‘like he enjoyed it’.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]12:37JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]CCTV captured 'flash' which prosecution alleges is petrol bomb explosion

The jurors are told that CCTV captured what the prosecution say are the two male defendants removing a fence panel at the rear of the house on Jackson Street.
Within 90 seconds, the camera captured a ‘flash or a flare’ and ten seconds after that one of the men is seen leaving the rear, the jurors are told.
A more intense flash takes place five seconds later from the rear of the house.
The QC said:

“That​ you may safely conclude was the explosion from the main petrol bomb that had been thrown into the house. Three seconds later the second of the two male defendants can be seen leaving the garden of Jackson Street.”
​

[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]12:52JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Kitchen window smashed, two petrol bombs thrown through, say prosecution

The kitchen window at the rear of the house had been smashed and the blinds had been slashed, the court was told, and two improvised incendiary devices, or petrol bombs, had been thrown through the broken window.
The smaller one, made from a Budweiser beer bottle, caused ‘relatively little damage’ setting fire to a pot towel on the dining table, said the QC.
The second, larger petrol bomb was made from a clear glass bottle and landed around the living room door, the court heard.
The resulting fire was ‘blocking’ any escape from the ground floor and seven occupants of the house were ‘trapped upstairs’, said Mr Reid.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]12:56JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Kyle Pearson couldn't get back into house to help family

After Kyle Pearson and his friend Bobby Harris had jumped from the bedroom window, his ‘immediate thought’ was to try to save the rest of his family, the court heard.
He is said to have borrowed a hammer and starting smashing the living room window before a neighbour took him to their house.
Mr Reid said:

He tried to force open the front door but the tragic irony is that the door he had wedged behind the front door to prevent Bolland and his associates gaining unlawful entry to the house now provided an insurmountable barrier preventing him getting back into the house.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271​

[/FONT]

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]13:00JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Firefighter described feelings of ‘fear and dread’ at what ​she​ would find[/h]A series of 999 calls was made and one, which was disconnected by the time it reached the operator, was traced back to Michelle Pearson​’s phone​, the court was told.
Three fire engines were called to the scene and two pairs of firefighters wearing breathing gear ‘​braved the heat, smoke and flames’, said Mr Reid.
“They were aware that there were children in the house ,” said the QC.
One described feelings of ‘fear and dread’ at what ​she​ would find.
[/FONT]
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]13:08JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Court hears where Michelle and her four children were found

Michelle Pearson was found on the floor of the bathroom between the bath and the door, the court heard, and she was taken out of the house and into the front garden.
Firefighters found Demi, Brandon and Lacie in a bedroom.
Mr Reid said about Demi: “It looked as though she may have directed her younger brother and sister to open the door and she had then tried to open the window.”
Demi was carried from the room, the court heard.
As firefighters returned to continue the rescue mission, one found Lia Pearson, three, and she was also taken out of the house, the jurors heard.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]13:12JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Demi, Brandon and Lacie pronounced dead shortly afterwards

Mr Reid said:

Demi, Brandon and Lacie were showing no signs of life. None-the-less attempts to resuscitate them continued at the scene, on the way to hospital and at the emergency department at Salford Royal Hospital. Sadly they were all pronounced dead within a short time.
​

Lia was seriously ill and has suffered a devastating brain injury, the court heard. She died two days later.
“Michelle Pearson has survived but is still very poorly,” said Mr Reid,
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]13:14JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Zak Bolland admits being involved in throwing the petrol bombs - but did not think there was anyone inside

The jurors were told that Zak Bolland admits being involved in throwing the petrol bombs into the house but says this was only to cause damage to the house as he did not think there was anyone inside.
David Worrall, the court heard, also accepted going to Jackson Street with Mr Bolland and helping to remove the fence panel.But he says that all that he thought would happen was that a wheelie bin would be set on fire, the jurors were told.
Courtney Brierley, the court heard, said she did not not know the men had petrol bombs when they left the car and she suspected that all they were going to do was was set fire to bins.
She says she played no part in preparation or carrying out of the attack.
She claimed her boyfriend, Zak Bolland, exercised a ‘controlling influence over her’, the court was told.
[/FONT]
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271