Firefighter ‘cried as she searched for kids in house fire’
A MURDER trial heard how a firefighter cried as she desperately searched to find children in a house fire.
Four children died following the blaze at Jackson Street in Walkden, Salford.
Their mother, Michelle Pearson, died about 20 months after the fire after suffering 68 per cent burns, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Zak Bolland, 26, and David
Worrall, 28, both deny murdering 37-year-old Ms Pearson.
They are accused of throwing petrol bombs into her home.
A jury has heard the pair were both previously convicted of the murders of four of Ms Pearson’s children, 15-year-old Demi, eightyear-old Brandon, seven-year-old Lacie, and Lia, three.
Jurors have been told of a ‘continuing feud’ between Bolland and Kyle Pearson, one of Ms Pearson’s children who was 16 at the time and escaped from the fire.
On the third day of the trial, jurors were read a statement from firefighter Janine Chadwick, who was based at Bolton Central fire station and attended the fire, which happened at about 5am on December 11, 2017.
She said: “I could hear people saying there were kids in there, and we needed to get inside. I could tell it was a really bad fire.”
She told how visibility was poor because of the smoke, and that she had to crawl on her hands and knees during the search.
The firefighter told how she became emotional during the search. She said: “I was in bits, I was just crying while searching for the children.”
Proceeding