Funeral date for children killed in blaze
A PROCESSION WILL START ON STREET WHERE YOUNGSTERS LOST THEIR LIVES AND HEAD ON TO CHURCH FOR SERVICE
THE funeral of four children killed in a petrol bomb attack will take place next month.
Demi Pearson, 15, and her siblings Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and three-year-old Lia were asleep in their beds when a kitchen window at their Walkden home in Salford was smashed and two petrol bombs tossed inside.
Despite the heroic efforts of firefighters, all four died from their injuries.
The children’s mother, Michelle, 36, was rescued, but was seriously injured.
A date has now been set for the children’s joint funeral.
Members of the public are invited to attend a procession before the service on Friday, September 14.
It will begin at 10am on Jackson Street, where the children lost their lives.
The Pearson family and supporters will walk behind horse-drawn carriages through St Mary’s Park and then on to St Paul’s Church for a service at 11am.
The dress code is ‘black and pink for girls, and black and blue for boys.’
Arrangements are being made to potentially have a screen available outside for mourners if there is no room left in the church.
Road closures are expected.
A private burial, for family members only, will take place after the service.
Zak Bolland, 23, who launched the fatal attack last December, was found guilty of four counts of murder by a jury in May. He was jailed for a minimum of 40 years.
David Worrall, 26, who was also convicted of murdering the four children, was handed a life sentence, with a minimum 37-year term.
Bolland’s then girlfriend, Courtney Brierley, 21, was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 21 years behind bars. During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors said the children’s mum, Michelle, had only recently been brought out of a coma and told they had died.
Speaking on the court steps after Bolland, Worrall and Brierley were jailed, the children’s grandmother, Sandra Lever, said: “Today may be the end of the trial, but it is not the end for us as we try to recover and get on with our lives.
“We miss the children every day. Our lives just aren’t the same without them.
“I hope that Bolland, Worrall and Brierley know they have taken away the light of our lives.”