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

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]14:18JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Statements Michelle Pearson made to police before fire

After the conclusion of the prosecutions’s opening statement, a series of statements from Michelle Pearson, which she made following incidents before the fatal fire, were read to the court.
She said she had lived at the house for 14 years.
She had received a number of text messages from Zak Bolland following the incident on November 26, the court heard.
Mrs Pearson said she deleted them but recalled her son was called a ‘grass’ in them and that he wanted his ‘five ton’, the jurors were told.
After her home was vandalised, she recalled two of her children were ‘screaming’ downstairs.
The cost of repairing the damage was £700, she told police.
“Nobody has the right to damage any of my property...I will assist a police prosecution and will attend court if required,” she said in her statement.
In a later statement to the police Mrs Pearson said she did not want attend court as she suffered from anxiety, the court heard.
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[FONT=&amp]14:30JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Mr Pearson had been thinking about asking housing association for a move

Mrs Pearson told police she regarded Courtney Brierley as a ‘little girl’ who didn’t frighten her.
But she revealed a different attitude to Zak Bolland, telling officers in one of her statements: “I know he’s capable of hurting me and damaging my property.”
In a later statement to police Mrs Pearson conceded there had been a misunderstanding and she said she was willing to attend court to support a prosecution.
She said she had been thinking about asking her housing association for a move as she didn’t want to risk further harm to her or her children.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]15:00KEY EVENT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'There was a big ball of flame' - Kyle Pearson recalls night of the fire

A police video interview of Kyle Pearson has been played to the jury.
On the night of the fatal fire, he recalled how he had been ‘chilling watching TV’ earlier in the evening. He fell asleep and was woken by someone shouting ‘fire, fire’. He said he looked from his bedroom window and could see a ‘glow’ coming from the front door.
“There was a big ball of flame and it started coming out like a jet,” he said.
He and his friend Bobby Harris jumped from the first floor window and the bedroom door ‘banged behind us’.
He said he had wanted to smash down the front door but ‘it all just went too fast’. He had been wearing T-shirts and shorts and socks and he described that although it was cold that night he could feel the heat of the door as he kicked at it.
He told officers how he got a hammer to smash the front window. He said: “There’s no way of getting to them.”
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[FONT=&amp]15:10JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Kyle says he heard someone in group outside home hours before fire say they would 'kill us all'

Describing the incident about four hours before the fatal fire, Kyle Pearson said he heard someone in a group of four visitors say they were going to ‘kill us all’. He told the police interviewers he was assured by his mother that everything would be alright.
“Hundred per cent it was him at the door,” he said, referring to the defendant Zak Bolland. He said he recognised Mr Bolland’s voice.
Kyle Pearson said his mother called the police and officers promised they would drive past the property every hour.
He said his mother had told him they had been armed and he added: “I didn’t think they would get petrol bombs. It’s the last thing on your mind, that.”
Kyle said he ‘put a bit of trust in the police’ and went to sleep.
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]15:35JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Kyle Pearson on how 'petty argument' with Zak Bolland escalated

Describing his falling out with Zak Bolland, Kyle Pearson told police it started as a ‘petty argument’.
“We could have settled it one on one in the street but it’s not like that nowadays,” he said.
He admitted he had become ‘paranoid, a bit twitchy’ as the dispute escalated.
Kyle Pearson described an incident about weeks before the fire where the defendant Bolland is said to have demanded £500 for damage done to his car. After he was rebuffed, Mr Bolland is alleged to have smashed windows at the house on Jackson Street.
Asked what happened next, Kyle Pearson said: “I rang someone, I’m not going to mention names, and four of us went to his house.”
He admitted he smashed his window. The court has previously heard of a disturbance which then ensued in the street involving an axe and a knife.
Kyle Pearson said Zak Bolland and the ‘full family’ came out including his brothers and his ‘bird’. It prompted a ‘little wobble with us’ in the street, he said.
Courtney Brierley had five stitches because someone punched her although he said he would not mention names, the court heard.
He added: “The police just watched and they let it happen and said it was tit-for-tat. They said it was just tit-for-tat.”
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[FONT=&amp]15:38JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Kyle told police her mum was 'in fear of her life' and 'definitely in danger'

Kyle Pearson said his mother lodged a formal complaint with ‘the housing’ as she was ‘in fear for her life’.
He continued: “But they have said to her she’s not in danger and you can go back to your house. She was definitely in danger.”
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]15:56JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Trial to resume tomorrow[/h]The jury has been sent home for the day and the trial resumes in the morning.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[KarenUK]

Utterly heartbreaking, I'm glad I'm not a juror on this case, the summaries are bad enough. I dont buy that they didnt know there were people in the house, and I really doubt any of the three charged have any remorse or they would have told the truth by now rather than try to save themselves.

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]11:29KEY EVENT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Day two

The jury has been called into court and day two is about to start.
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[FONT=&amp]11:56JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]First witness was said to be with Zak Bolland and David Worrall on night of fire

The first witness to be called is Liam James Cassidy, who was said to be with Zak Bolland, David Worrall and another man, Gary Jones when they visited the house on Jackson Street about four hours before the fatal fire.
The jurors have previously heard the prosecution say that Michelle Pearson had been woken at 00.40am.
She is said to have seen four men including one she recognised, Zak Bolland in her front garden.
Mr Cassidy confirmed to the court he had been out drinking with his friend Gary Jones early that Sunday at pubs in Farnworth.
A friend of Gary Jones, the defendant David Worrall, met them at one pub, the Three Crowns, the court heard.
Mr Worrall was someone he had only met ‘a few times’, said Mr Cassidy.
The witness said he had about six pints but he felt ‘alright’.
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[Legally Bland]

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[FONT=&amp]Court told Zak wanted to 'get some lads' who had 'done something to him'

The three of them then went back to ‘Zak’s house’ at Backleach Drive in a taxi although he didn’t know who Zak was.
The drinking carried on and then the men went to get a crate or two of beer from an off-licence, the jurors were told.
During the night Zak mentioned he wanted to ‘get some lads’ who had ‘done something to him’, according to Mr Cassidy.
The witness said he believed Zak had wanted to ‘batter him’.
Mr Cassidy, Zak, Dave Worrall and ‘Gaz’ then went to Jackson Street, the witness agreed.
The defendant David Worrall had a metre-long pole up his sleeve, the jurors were told.
The jurors heard that Zak and David Worrall led and the other two men followed behind.
Asked whether Zak started banging on the door, Mr Cassidy said: “He just knocked on the door and some woman came to the top window and said ‘go away I will call the police’.”
He agreed Zak was asking ‘for the lad to get out’ and he didn’t know whether Zak had kicked the door.
David Worrall hit the front door with his pole once or twice and the glass smashed, according to the witness.
Mr Cassidy said he thought the pole was lost in the garden.
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[FONT=&amp]12:50JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]David Worrall 'got into the boot'

Mr Cassidy said the four men then returned to continue drinking at Zak’s house.
He said the defendant Courtney Brierley was sitting on a chair near the window.
He said he could not hear what the others were saying and didn’t ask what it was about.
The witness agreed another girl called Abi arrived and Zak asked her if she could drop Mr Cassidy and his friend Gary Jones off.
They all got into the car and David Worrall got into the boot, according to the witness.
Mr Cassidy said he was dropped off at his girlfriend’s about three miles away, prompting Mr Worrall to get out of the boot and into the car.
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[FONT=&amp]13:05JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Four men were 'having a good old drink' and Courtney Brierley 'was in the corner'

Under cross-examination from Andrew Hall QC, defending Courtney Brierley, Mr Cassidy agreed he did not speak to his client at all that night.
He agreed that for the first part of the evening she was upstairs at the house on Blackleach Drive in her bedroom.
The witness recalled he said Ms Brierley on her phone as she was sitting in the lounge, texting and on Facebook.
When it was suggested the four men were ‘having a good old drink’ and Ms Brierley was ‘in the background’, he said: “She was on her phone in the corner.”
He agreed he had not been involved in the background to the dispute, apart from knowing that there was one.
“Yes, that’s all I knew,” he said.
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[FONT=&amp]13:13JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Bobby Harris, who escaped the fatal fire, is in the witness stand

Bobby Harris, 17, who escaped the fatal fire that night with his friend Kyle Pearson, when they were both 16, took the witness stand said he had known his friend since they were ‘kids’.
Asked what he knew of Zak Bolland, he said: “Not that much. In knew of him.”
He said he had been staying in Kyle’s small bedroom and it was ‘partly’ because of the trouble his friend had been experiencing he was staying there.
He said he knew that Zak Bolland’s car had been torched and that Bolland suspected his friend was involved.
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[FONT=&amp]13:29JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Witness says Zak Bolland was 'smashing windows with a hammer'

Bobby Harris told the court he was inside the house in Jackson Street when Zak Bolland, according to the prosecution, used an axe to smash the windows of the house, allegedly furious at the damage done to his car and demanding to be paid £500.
He said he was woken by Kyle Pearson at about 8am and that Kyle told him Zak Bolland was ‘smashing windows with a hammer’.
Asked about Zak Bolland’s demeanour, the witness said he was like he had ‘had summat, drugs or spice’ and was ‘aggressive’.
Kyle Pearson got dressed and went downstairs but by then Zak Bolland had gone, according to the witness.
Bobby Harris agreed the pair decided to retaliate and admitted he armed himself with a golf club and said Kyle got a metre-long wooden stick from the garden.
They went to the defendant’s home and the witness said Kyle broke a window with a stick.
He described how Zak Bolland came out of the house with a hammer and his girlfriend, fellow defendant Courtney Brierley, came out with an axe.
Bolland’s brother also came out, the court heard. He told how a dog was also set loose.
The witness described how he ran off up a cul-de-sac but didn’t see if police arrived.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]13:34JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'GRISS' had been spray-painted on front of property

Bobby Harris said he was sleeping at the house on Jackson Street a couple of days later when there was a fire in a bin in the garden.
He agreed that Kyke had thought that Zak Bolland was behind the fire.
When he went out of the house later that morning, he noticed that ‘GRISS’ had been spray painted on the front of the property.
The prosecution say this was probably an attempt to write ‘grass’ after Kyle’s mother Michelle Pearson had reported matter to the police.
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[FONT=&amp]13:40JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Bobby Harris said he could hear Zak Bolland outside saying he was going to come back and ‘kill ‘em all’

Bobby Harris agreed that he was aware of no more incidents until the night of the fatal fire.
He said he had been at the house on Jackson Street for most of the preceding Sunday.
The witness said he was woken during the night by Kyle as he slept downstairs to be told that ‘Zak’s outside’.
The jurors heard that Kyle Pearson used an unattached door to ‘barricade’ the front door, wedging the loose door between the stairs and the front door.
The front door proper did not have a lock but instead a bolt had been added, the court was told.
Bobby Harris said he could hear Zak Bolland outside saying he was going to come back and ‘kill ‘em all’.
He said he didn’t take the threat seriously and went to bed upstairs.
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[FONT=&amp]13:55JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Witness tells how he escaped from fire: 'Window blew off and landed beside them'

Bobby Harris told the jurors that the next thing he knew he was being woken again by Kyle Pearson at 5am.
He said he noticed ‘smoke and heat’ in their small bedroom where they had been sleeping in bunk beds.
The witness told the court he got out of bed and tried to crawl under the smoke as it ‘filled up the room’.
Kyle Pearson climbed out of the bedroom onto a ledge and jumped to safety followed by Bobby Harris, the court heard.
Bobby Harris described how the pair started trying to kick the front door off and that the window from their bedroom blew off and landed beside them.
He said that flames were shooting from the open window and that the friends tried smashing a downstairs window too in a bid to get back into the house.
The witness said he looked up and agreed that he saw the bunk beds in which they had been sleeping ‘fully on fire’.
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[FONT=&amp]14:10JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'Neighbour came out with a pan of water'

Bobby Harris said the fire brigade arrived quickly and that people came out into the street.
He described how one of the neighbours came out with a pan of water to tackle the fire and a hammer to try and get into the house.
The teenager was taken to a neighbour’s house to be checked over before being taken to Royal Bolton Hospital, the jurors were told.
He was given oxygen in the ambulance on the way to hospital and again when he arrived and placed on a drip, the court heard.
He had suffered smoke inhalation but had not suffered any other injuries.
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[FONT=&amp]14:32JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Neighbour says he saw Zak Bolland smash windows of house

A neighbour from Jackson Street, Anthony Holdsworth, said he had seen the windows smashed at Michelle Pearson’s home a month before.
He told the court he saw Zak Bolland carry out the attack with a hammer. The witness told the court he saw the defendant ‘scuttling off’, followed by Kyle Pearson and a friend a few minutes later.
Asked by prosecutor Paul Reid QC whether at some point he had spoken to Kyle Pearson about ‘bringing too much trouble to the house’, he replied ‘Yes’.
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[FONT=&amp]15:10JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'Rescue me mam - get the kids out, get the kids out’

On the night of the fatal fire, Mr Holdsworth said he heard one of his daughters shouting they had been burgled and someone was in the attic.
The witness said he ‘shot up’ to check the house before he heard his daughter shouting to Kyle Pearson: “Get off there. You are going to get burned.”
Mr Holdsworth then realised the neighbour’s house was on fire.
“It was coming out like a jet over his head,” he said.
He described seeing a ‘fireball’ and how Kyle Pearson was trying to get back into the house.
He said he ‘shot down the stairs’ and saw Kyle and Bobby. “They were going absolutely crazy, screaming,” said Mr Houldsworth.
Kyle Pearson was shouting ‘rescue me mam - get the kids out, get the kids out’, the witness told the court.
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[FONT=&amp]15:24[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Backdraft from fire blew neighbour 'up the garden path'

Mr Holdsworth described how the two teenagers were trying to get back into the house but couldn’t do it.
Kyle Pearson kicked the front door but his foot was ‘on fire with molten plastic’, he said. The witness described how his wife came out with a kettle.
Mr Holdsworth said he then kicked the door in but he was blown off his feet by the resulting ‘backdraft’.
“I knocked the door in and it went up in flames. It went boom. It blew me up the garden path,” he said.
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[FONT=&amp]15:28JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Witness describes Mr Bolland's 'brazen' attack on windows

His daughter Kiera Holdsworth described seeing Zak Bolland at the house on Jackson Street the week before the fatal fire, telling how he appeared ‘brazen’.
Mr Bolland ‘strolled into the garden with a hammer’ before smashing Mrs Pearson’s windows, she said.
The witness said she picked her son up and moved him away from the window and Zak Bolland walked away.
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[FONT=&amp]15:42JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'Desperate' calls from the house

Miss Holdsworth, describing the night of the fire, said she heard Kyle Pearson shouting her father: “Tony please, Tony please.”
The call had sounded ‘quite desperate’ and she followed her father out of the house, seeing initially smoke coming from behind the door but quickly afterwards she could see flames behind the windows of the house.
When her father kicked the front door in, she described a fireball which reached the fence and which pushed back Kyle Pearson and his friend.
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]15:52JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]“No, not the children" - emotional witness recalls Michelle Pearson's desperate shouts[/h]Another neighbour Karen Kormoss, who has lived in Jackson Street for 28 years, told the court she was woken by the sound of footsteps on her roof at about 4.30am on the night of the fire and later heard ‘screaming and shouting’.
Breaking down on the witness stand, she described how she could hear Michelle Pearson shouting: “No, not the children. Not the kids.”
She said she banged on the walls.
She said she recalled dialling 999 and had a ‘bad feeling’ about what was happening next door and realised it was a fire when the windows were blown out.
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]16:15JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Jury sent home - trial to continue tomorrow[/h]The jury has been sent home for the day and the trial resumes in the morning.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

 

[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]11:22JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Jury back in for day three

The jury has been called back into court three and the trial has resumed.
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[FONT=&amp]11:22JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'There seemed to be quite a lot of people - a lot of commotion'

The first witness to give evidence was firefighter Janine Chadwick, based at Bolton Central fire station, told how she and her colleagues had been called out to a ‘persons reported’ fire, where people are trapped inside a building.
Her fire engine, and a second appliance based in Farnworth, were scrambled to the scene.
She was wearing breathing gear and was already ‘under air’ when she arrived, the court heard.
“There seemed to be quite a lot of people, a lot of commotion,” the firefighter told the court.
She said she could see smoke coming from the house on Jackson Street and had been told there were children inside, the jurors were told.
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[FONT=&amp]11:29JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Told that children were still upstairs... and went into the building

Firefighter Chadwick described how it was cold and there snow and ice on the road that night.
“It was quite dangerous walking on it,” she said.
She noted the downstairs windows were boarded up and an upstairs window was slightly open.
The fire seemed ‘really bad’.
“We knew it was a bad fire as we arrived,” she said.
Colleagues on the engine from Farnworth, wearing breathing gear, were already inside the building and brought Michelle Pearson out of the property, the court heard.
Firefighter Chadwick was told that other occupants including children were still upstairs although she wasn’t told how many.
She followed firefighter Mark Berry into the building, the court heard.
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[FONT=&amp]11:39JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'I could see fire. We headed upstairs... the fire was coming off the staircase which made it very difficult'

Asked what she experienced inside the house, firefighter Chadwick told the court: “Obviously the heat. It was really really hot. We had to battle against the heat to enter the building. I looked into the living room.
“I could see fire. We headed upstairs... the fire was coming off the staircase which made it very difficult. You could not get a foot on the stairs because of all the rubble and basically you were on your hands and knees trying to get access to the upstairs.”
The firefighter described how she was dragging a hose reel as she made her way up the stairs.
The firefighters went to the front of the house, and she noted it was ‘very very smoky’ and could see the glow of a fire.
“You could not literally see the person next to you,” she told the jury.
Asked how the search was conducted, she replied: “Literally, get down on the floor and search with your hands and your feet.”
She added it was ‘a little bit cooler’ crawling down low.
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[FONT=&amp]11:54JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Firefighter describes moment children were found

Firefighter Berry, the court heard, was carrying a thermal imaging camera which can identify heat sources and casualties.
He went to the small front bedroom with the bunk bed but could not get in as it was so small, the court heard.
“I went into the large front bedroom. I got quite low. I could see quite a few glows of different fires around the room. There wasn’t just one fire. I was still quite low. I immediately went into the room. I started finding the children,” firefighter Chadwick said.
The first child she found was Brandon Pearson who was near the door and lying face down as though he was trying to crawl out of the room, the court heard.
The firefighter picked him up and let her partner know she had found someone, the court heard.
He took Brandon off her and she continued the search, finding Lacie Pearson.
“She was right behind where he (her brother) was,” said firefighter Chadwick.
Lacie was also taken from her and taken down the stairs, the court heard.
Another fighter then joined firefighter Chadwick, the court heard.
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]11:59JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Attempts to clear smoke from building[/h]The court heard an industrial fan, called a positive pressure ventilator, was put on.
“It will potentially clear quite a lot of smoke out of the building,” said firefighter Chadwick.
The jurors were told it was switched very shortly afterwards over concerns it could fan the fire.
“There are risks. It was switched off not long afterwards,” she said.
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]12:21JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'It looked as though Demi Pearson had directed the smaller children to the door'[/h]Firefighter Chadwick told the court she came across a third child, Demi Pearson, shortly afterwards.
She was on a lower bunk with her hands stretched out towards the open window, the court heard.
The witness was not able to discern whether Demi Pearson had opened the door herself but she came to the conclusion she had probably directed the smaller children to the door.
“It looked that way,” said the firefighter.
It was it was apparent from her condition she was already dead.
“We had to give her that chance,” she said.
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[FONT=&quot]12:30JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]She saw one of her colleagues carrying Lia from the house[/h]Firefighter Chadwick later learned through her radio there was also a fourth child so the search continued.
She saw one of her colleagues carrying Lia from the house, the court heard.
She said: “It was quite difficult because of the stairs. It was very difficult going down the stairs. I literally had to sit on the stairs and I got myself down. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to carry a child.”
The court heard that the children were brought out onto the road where they were attended to and taken to hospital.
The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, thanked the witness and said: “It was a hugely difficult night and difficult to relive. Thank you very much for coming.”
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[FONT=&quot]12:45JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Michelle Pearson 'was alive. She was breathing and had a good pulse'[/h]Paramedic Kirsty Ogden told the court she went to Jackson Street in her ‘rapid response vehicle’, arriving at 5.06am.
A police officer who was already there told her there were potentially five occupants of the house.
She recalled seeing ‘flames coming through a broken window’.
The court heard she set up medical equipment to treat casualties and that the first brought to her was Michelle Pearson.
“She was alive. She wasn’t conscious. She was breathing and she had a good pulse,” she told the court.
Lacie was brought out next and she wasn’t conscious or breathing, the court heard.
A police officer had started CPR on the child and the paramedic provided assistance, the jurors were told.
Brandon and Demi Pearson were brought out next and paramedic Ogden continued to monitor Michelle Pearson and Lacie, the court was told.
Lia was then brought out of the building, the court heard.
Other paramedics then took over the care of casualties paramedic Ogden had been tending, it was said.
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[FONT=&quot]13:03JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'Kyle was concerned for his family... I just needed to keep him calm'[/h]Sergeant Rodney Ashton, based at Swinton police station, told the court about the scene when he arrived at Jackson Street.
He said he could smell smoke and could tell there had been a fire.
He saw Michelle Pearson being treated on the pavement, adding: “She was struggling for oxygen. Her chest was going up and down. She was trying to suck air in.”
He said a ‘lovely lady’ who lived opposite the house took in Kyle Pearson and Bobby Harris, who had leapt from a first floor window and escaped the blaze relatively unscathed.
“The two boys were caked in soot. Kyle was asking me a few questions. He was concerned for his family but it wasn’t the time really. I just needed to keep him calm,” the police officer told the court.
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[FONT=&quot]13:14JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Neighbour saw Lacie Pearson being brought out: 'I knew at that point nobody was coming out of that house alive'[/h]A neighbour of the Pearson family, Elaine Williams, described how Lacie Pearson had come over to her home earlier on the Sunday to ask for a pencil so she could do her homework and how she went around later to ‘have a brew’ with Michelle Pearson.
In a statement read to the jury, Ms Wiliams described how she was first alerted to the fire by the sound of ‘banging and shouting’, adding that she saw Kyle Pearson and Bobby Harris kicking at the front door of the burning home.
Kyle Pearson was shouting ‘there’s kids in there’, she said.
Ms Williams saw an orange glow and realised it was a fire, calling 999 and telling the emergency services there were children trapped inside.
“I put on my dressing gown and ran out into the street. By this time the house was up in flames and smoke was coming out of the windows,” she said.
She described how she took Kyle Pearson and Bobby Harris into her house and their faces were black as they had been trying to get into the burning building.
Ms Willians described how she saw firefighters bringing Lacie Pearson out of the building.
“I became very distressed. I knew at that point nobody was coming out of that house alive,” she said.
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[FONT=&quot]13:31JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]One month before: Firefighter who went to give safety advice says the house was 'in chaos'[/h]Gareth Peters, a crew manager at Farnworth fire station, described how he went to the house on Jackson Street in the month before the fatal fire, on November 28, to fit a guard over the letter box and provide some advice to Michelle Pearson.
The jury has previously heard that, the month before the fatal fire, the defendant Zak Bolland is alleged to have used an axe to smash windows at the house and demanded £500 as he is said to have suspected Kyle Pearson over the torching of his car.
Mr Peters, in a statement read to the court, said the house in Jackson Street was ‘extremely chaotic’ when he arrived and that there was ‘shouting and screaming’.
Michelle Pearson told the firefighter her main problem was getting re-housed, the court heard.
He said he went through an ‘escape plan’ with her and explained how everyone needed to go into one room in the event of a fire and that all appliances had to be switched off at night and doors had to be shut.
The witness said he told her to take her mobile phone to bed with her and left her with a ‘Safe & Well’ form.
A cover was fitted to the letter box to prevent an accelerant being poured through it and two smoke alarms in the house were checked, the court heard.
“Michelle did not appear to be worried about the situation,” said crew manager Peters, adding that the house was ‘in chaos’ and that it appeared to him she wanted him to leave as soon as possible.
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[FONT=&quot]16:01JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Trial resumes on Tuesday[/h]That’s all the evidence for today. The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, sends the jury home and the trial resumes on Tuesday. There will be no evidence tomorrow (Friday).
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&amp]10:42JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Police interview with woman who drove defendants to and from Jackson Street

​The jury has been called into court and day four has started here at Manchester Crown Court and the prosecution case has resumed.
​The jurors are listening to a police video interview of Abigail Toone, who was driving the car which took the three defendants to and from Jackson Street.​
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[FONT=&amp]11:40JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Witness says she took Bolland and Brierley in her car

Abigail Toone described how she had been out on a works Christmas do at EventCity in Trafford on Sunday December 10 and then got a taxi home at about 1.30am.
She told the interviewing officer she then got in her car and tried to find her partner, who has been described by the prosecution as her on-off boyfriend.
He wasn’t at his house in Farnworth and then she went to his friend Zak Bolland’s house to find him, the court heard.
Her boyfriend wasn’t there but she saw Zak Bolland, his two brothers and two other men she didn’t recognise, the jurors were told.
The witness told the police officers Zak Bolland agreed to go out with her in her Fiat Punto to try and find her boyfriend.
She said Courtney Brierley was sat beside her in the front while Zak Bolland was in the rear.
Miss Toone described how they drove to an address but they they could not find him and they went back to Mr Bolland’s house.
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[FONT=&amp]11:55JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'Courtney got into the front... David Worrall got into the boot'

Miss Toone described how she declined a drink when she was at the house and that she didn’t speak to anyone.
She said she was only interested in finding her partner.
She said she agreed to take two of Mr Bolland’s friends home after he offered to pay her £10.
Courtney Brierley got into the front of her car while Mr Bolland and his two friends got into the rear, the court heard.
The defendant David Worrall got into the boot, according to the witness.
She described how the two men were dropped off in Kearsley and how they went to a petrol station where David Worrall and Zak Bolland bought a bottle of wine and a crate of beer while Courtney Brierley was waiting with her in the car.
She then drove them back to Zak Bolland’s house, the court heard.
There, she declined another offer of a drink, the jurors heard.
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[FONT=&amp]12:09JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'Zak grabbed a really big machete. They both stood up. Courtney stood up'

Zak Bolland and Courtney BrierleyMiss Toone said:

“I was sat in the corner. My phone was on charge. I was trying not to listen to what they were saying. They were getting really loud and aggressive. Dave started clenching his fist and I just remember him saying ‘I’m going to slice his face open’. I could hear them talking about people.”
​

She said she couldn’t recall any names being mentioned.
The witness continued:

“But I just knew they were planning something, talking about what they were going to do. And then I heard Zak say something along the lines of ‘shall we do it?’ and then Dave said ‘yeah, I’ll do it’.
“The next minute they both got up and Dave grabbed a really big axe. It had a wooden handle. It was really big. Then Zak grabbed a really big machete. They both stood up. Courtney stood up.
“She seemed to know what they were talking about. Zak said ‘drive us to the petrol station’. And then they had their weapons in their hands.
“They were getting really aggressive with me, really pumped up. I think they had all been on drugs well before they did that.”
​

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[FONT=&amp]12:18JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'They left the weapons in the car... they were three or four minutes. Really quick'

Miss Toone said she got in her car with Courtney Brierley sitting beside her in the front passenger seat while the two men got into the rear.
She said she was ordered to drive past a Tesco petrol station in Farnworth and park in a dark side street, which she said had been chosen by Zak Bolland because there were ‘no cameras’.
“Then I heard Courtney say ‘make sure you put your hoods up’,” said Miss Toone.
She continued:

“They left the weapons in the back of the car. I felt like I could not do anything.
“I knew weapons were in the car. I was scared to leave the car. (Courtney) was sat in the car with me. They went in. They were less than five minutes. They were three or four minutes. They were really quick.”
​

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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]12:24JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]“That’s when I knew. I could smell it. I knew they were going to do something bad. They told me to drive.”[/h]Miss Toone said Zak Bolland was holding a green can when they returned and that she could smell oil or petrol.
She said:

“That’s when I knew. I could smell it. I knew they were going to do something bad. They told me to drive.”
​

She noted how Mr Bolland and Mr Worrall were getting ‘more aggressive’.
The witness told the court how David Worrall noticed he had had forgotten a pair of gloves and she was ordered to return to the street to retreieve them.
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[FONT=&quot]12:43JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'The men returned to the car with bottles with tissues in them'[/h]Miss Toone said she was told to return to Zak Bolland’s house where he and David Worrall went inside, leaving Courtney Brierley in the car with her.
“I felt like I could not leave,” she said.
The men returned to the car about three minutes later with between two and four bottles with tissues in them, according to the witness.
She said she drove for five or ten minutes to ‘where I believe the incident took place’.
“I drove there and they told me to park on the street so I did,” she said.
She recalled how Courtney Brierley said: “Be quick Zak. Don’t take ages.”
Miss Toone said: “They both had their hoods up. They were covered up and they went out.”
She said she turned her car around and was made to park near a ginnel.
“The next minute, after three or four minutes, they came running out and they got in the car. They said ‘go go go, drive to Zak’s’,” the witness told police.
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[FONT=&quot]12:54JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]"I just remember Courtney saying ‘Zak, do it quick, hurry up’ and they grabbed bottles and stuff"[/h]Asked to describe how the men had got out of her car, Miss Toone said: “I can’t remember if they were carrying their weapons with them but I just remember Courtney saying ‘Zak, do it quick, hurry up’ and they grabbed bottles and stuff and they literally just got out of the car, ran out of the car.
“And they came back and they were running to the car.”
The witness continued: “I knew they had done something. They dashed in my car and said ‘drive to Zak’s’.
“I drove to Zak’s. Zak and Dave got out of the car really really quickly.”
Miss Toone said she saw Zak Bolland put something in a bin opposite his house and heard him tell Courtney Brierley he was hiding something.
Asked what the object was, she said: “The only thing I can think is if it was the weapon. I don’t know. I’m not too sure. It was happening so fast. I knew they had just done something really really bad.”
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[FONT=&quot]13:08JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'They were planning it. They knew who they were targeting and they knew what they were going to do'[/h]Referring to what she had seen earlier in the night, Miss Toone said:

“They were planning it. They knew who they were targeting and they knew what they were going to do.
“I didn’t know it was that house on that street. I didn’t even know who was in that house.”
​

She added: “Zak was getting really riled. Dave was getting aggressive and aggressively clenching his fist. That’s when I heard him saying ‘I’m going to slice his face open’. I heard them say they will smash the back windows.”
She said she recalled Zak Bolland mentioning a name but she could not remember it.
When the men ‘dashed out’ of the car, she said Courtney Brierley was sitting beside her in the car wearing pyjamas and a pink house coat.
Miss Toone said she drove home after returing the three defendants to Zak Bolland’s home.

“As she got out, I said ‘I’m going home. I turned around and just drove off and went straight home. I got in at five or after five.
“I went straight to sleep. I was so tired. I felt really drained. I knew they had just done something.”
​

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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]13:17JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Witness says she broke down when she saw news of fire on Facebook[/h]Miss Tooney told the police she was woken by a missed call in the night and that she believed it was from Courtney Brierley’s phone.
She recalled messaging her mother and grandmother to let them know she was OK.
The witness broke down when she described how she woke up and saw news of the fire on social media.
She said:

“I had no idea. It came up on my Facebook. I saw pictures and the windows and it said three or four children had died.
I got really upset. I didn’t know what do to. I tried to calm myself down.”
​

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[FONT=&quot]13:30JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Witness tells of panic attack when she found out what had happened[/h]Miss Toone said she drove to her sister’s college in Walkden and dro​v​e past Jackson Street on the way.
“It was all blocked off. That’s when I realised the extent of what had happened,” she said.
The jurors were told that the witness didn’t tell her sister about what had happened at first but then had a panic attack in a car park near the college.
“I could not breath. I just burst out into tears. I said pull over and I told her what happened. She went really pale.
“She said ‘I can’t believe this - I’ve told you to stay away’. She was really upset. She went really quiet​.”
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]13:45JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'For the sake of those children that died I just wanted to tell the truth'[/h]Miss Toone and her sister met their mother at Bents Garden Centre, in Warrington, the jurors were told.
There, her sister started crying and said ‘it’s really bad mum’’ before Miss Toone told her what had happened, the court heard.
The mother called a friend of the family whose husband was a detective and went to their house, the court heard.

“He was really calm. I was really upset. He told me to take my time and then we went through the different outcomes. He could not say too much as he had not retired yet.
“He’s an acting officer. He had to tell me the truth. He said just tell me straight. He said the best thing you can do is tell the truth and be honest and he said ‘you are doing the right thing’.”
​

The witness began to sob as she told the interviewers:

“I said I know. I just need to tell the truth because I can’t let them get away with it. I can’t live with them getting away with it.
“Their attitude, that kind of people, is they think they can get away with it. For the sake of those children that died I just wanted to tell the truth.”
​

She added she didn’t want them ‘to do it again’.
She went to Swinton police station was interviewed by police, the court heard.
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[FONT=&quot]14:13JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Miss Toome says she was 'too scared' to leave the defendants: 'I thought maybe they were robbing the petrol station. I had no idea'[/h]After her video interview was played, Miss Toome, giving evidence via video-link, was asked by prosecutor Paul Reid QC why she had not left the three defendants in the build-up to the fatal fire.
“I was too scared,” she said, pointing to comments that David Worrall is alleged to have said.
She had said during her police interview she had heard him threatening to ‘slice up’ someone’s face and alleged that he had attacked her car with a machete during another incident about six weeks before the fire.

“Having heard things like that before, I was terrified because he had already attacked my car. I knew he could lose it. I just did. I didn’t want to ask questions, I just did it.
“I was really confused. I had no idea at first. I did think when they went to that petrol station when they had weapons, I didn’t know what they were doing. I thought maybe they were robbing the petrol station. I had no idea.”
​

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[FONT=&quot]14:18JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Courtney Brierley 'still had pyjamas on and a house coat'[/h]Miss Toone said she hoped she would be allowed to go home but that Courtney Brierley remained in the car with her.
Asked if Courtney Brierley being there ‘made things difficult’, the witness said:

“Yes, it did, because she’s still sat in the car. I felt like I could not leave. She still had pyjamas on and a house coat.
“For all I knew, she could have had a weapon. I didn’t know. I was too scared.”
​

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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]15:05[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'Panic' over locked car doors[/h]The QC took the witness through a subsequent interview she had with the police in which she said she had been told by Courtney Brierley to lock the doors of her car when the men ran off to Jackson Street.
When they came back they were ‘panicking’ because the car doors were still locked, Miss Toone told police.
The witness agreed that in her third police interview she had said that David Worrall ‘looked like he enjoyed it’ when he had allegedly said ‘that were real weren’t it?’ moments after the arson.
In that interview, the jurors were told, the witness denied hearing Zak Bolland calling David Worrall a ‘s**thouse’ for running away. “Zak never said anything like those words,” Miss Toone told the jury.
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[Legally Bland]

[FONT=&quot]15:12JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]"I was in a mess. I was in tears. I didn’t know what to do”[/h]Mr Reid reads another extract from Miss Toone’s third interview in which she said: “I know they might not have a conscience but I did so I drove back.”
She recalled seeing the house ‘up in flames’ and a woman outside the home ‘screaming’.
She told the interviewing police officers:

“I thought ‘that’s what they have done’. I was in a mess. I was in tears. I didn’t know what to do.”
​

Miss Toone said she was surprised to see the emergency services were already at the scene.
She recalled another incident a few nights or a week before the fatal fire where she said she saw Zak Bolland running into a house at 2am and ‘grabbing something flammable’ before running out again. She said she believed it was a bottle.
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[FONT=&quot]15:21JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]‘Relief’ for Miss Toone on finding out she was a witness, not a suspect[/h]Under cross-examination by Peter Wright QC, defending Zak Bolland, Miss Toone agreed that she knew she was involved in ‘some extremely serious trouble’ before the fatal fire.
She agreed she had not said ‘I don’t want anything to do with this’ in the hours before the fire took place.
The jurors heard that the witness was interviewed on December 12, December 20 and then on February 20 this year.
Miss Toone agreed that she only mentioned driving close to Jackson Street, where she is said to have seen the house in flames, during her third interview.
Asked why, she said she had done a lot of driving that night and that she had been trying to remember ‘every aspect that happened that night in detail’.
She agreed it was a ‘relief’ when she found out she was being treated as a witness rather than a suspect.
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[FONT=&quot]15:44JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]"In the end I did the right thing”[/h]The witness agreed she had realised ‘something very, very serious had happened’ but had not called the authorities immediately.
“You didn’t stop and volunteer what you knew. You went home,” suggested the QC, and the witness replied: “Yes, I did.”
She agreed she would have been ‘implicated’ in what had happened and kept what she knew to herself.
“You went home and had your eyebrows done didn’t you?” asked the QC, and the witness replied: “Yes, that’s right.”
“And only later did you start to describe what you said had gone on,” said Mr Wright. “Yes I did, to my sister,” said Miss Toone.
“But you then didn’t contact the police did you?” asked the QC and the witness replied: “Because I wanted to tell my family and I needed that support. In the end I did the right thing.”
When the QC suggests she was ‘distancing yourself’ from what had happened, she answered:

“In my life I have never been through anything like that or imagined I would ever go through anything like that. So eventually I told my family and I needed to speak to them, which is tell them what had happened and tell them the truth and then we went to the police.”
​

The QC added: “But you didn’t go to the police. You sought advice.”
Miss Toone said she ‘wanted the truth on what could happen’ and that she wanted ‘nothing sugar-coated’.
“I wanted the truth. Yes, we did seek advice with my family and then we went to the police station,” she said.
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[FONT=&quot]16:13JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Trial to resume tomorrow[/h]The jury is sent home for the day and the trial resumes at 10am tomorrow.
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