Did neighbour row lead to fire that killed 3 children?
Police arrest suspect in front of angry mob after petrol was poured down the chimney
THE family targeted in a devastating house fire that killed three children had been living in fear of an attack as they slept.
Last night it emerged that an arsonist is believed to have poured petrol through their chimney, front door and ground floor window before setting the home alight.
A security device had been fitted to the letterbox of the terraced house in Salford after the family reported threats to police. Locals have said the family have been involved in a dispute with a neighbour.
Fire crews arrived within minutes on Monday morning but the house was already ablaze. Demi Pearson, 14, died along with her brother Brandon, eight, and sister Lacie, seven.
Their mother Michelle, 35, last night remained heavily sedated in hospital and unaware that three of her six children had been killed. Her youngest daughter, Lia, three, was with her in hospital, in a critical condition.
Greater Manchester Police has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over the fire after saying there had been ‘ previous incidents’ at the home in Walkden. Video footage has emerged of suspect Zak Bolland, 23, being arrested a mile from the family’s home with angry onlookers shouting at him.
Detectives were last night questioning two men, 23 and 25, and a woman, 20, on suspicion of murder. Three other men – aged 19, 20 and 24 – who were arrested earlier were released on bail yesterday.
The family had been living in fear of an arson attack for at least two weeks, with fire crews having fitted a security device on their letterbox to prevent flammable materials being poured through it after a referral from police.
Close friend Janette Dean, 54, claimed Miss Pearson had been embroiled in a long-running row with a neighbour.
Others claimed there had been local disagreements involving Miss Pearson’s eldest son, aged 17.
The dispute is also said to have involved a dog being attacked with a hammer, part of previously low-level violence in the area.
‘They’ve all been at each other for ages now,’ a local said. ‘I don’t know what started it, but it’s just got worse and worse’.
Sibling Kyle Pearson, 16, escaped through a window along with a friend Bobby Harris, also 16, after being awoken at 5am by his mother screaming: ‘Fire!’
He tried to force his way back inside but was blocked by the smoke and flames.
Kyle said: ‘I tried to break the front door down and smashed a window, but I couldn’t get in because of the flames and the smoke. I can’t get my head around it. It’s disgraceful.’
Police are said to have been called to an incident at the house just hours before the fatal blaze when a man was said to have been ‘yelling abuse’ and ‘banging on the door’. And fire crews are understood to have put out a wheelie bin set alight at the property a few days earlier.
A family friend posted on Facebook that shortly before the tragedy, victim Brandon had said the family wanted to move because ‘bad things keep happening’ to the house.
Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller of Greater Manchester Police said: ‘We now have a much deeper understanding of the devastating events which lead to the tragic deaths. We have connected CCTV from the area and now believe this to be a targeted attack on this house.’ He added that relatives of the family have been left ‘completely devastated’.