Arson-tragedy brother locked up for robbing autistic boy
FIRE SURVIVOR ALSO ATTACKED MAN IN ROW ‘OVER A GIRL’
THE brother of four children murdered in an arson attack has been locked up after robbing an autistic teenager and attacking a man.
Kyle Pearson, now 18, was sentenced following the incidents which happened months after his four siblings died in a fire deliberately started at their home in Walkden, Salford, in December 2017.
His mother Michelle Pearson died in August, 20 months after she escaped the blaze. He had also been in the house, but escaped.
Demi Pearson, 15, her sisters Lacie, seven, Lia, three and brother Brandon, eight, all died in the horrific fire on Jackson Street.
A trial heard that in the months prior to the blaze, Kyle Pearson had been involved in a series of titfor-tat rows with Zak Bolland, who would later be sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum 40-year term, after being convicted of the murders. Bolland was also found guilty of attempting to murder Kyle Pearson.
Now Pearson has been sentenced to four years in a young offenders institution.
In August last year, Pearson, who appeared at Manchester Crown Court via videolink and another man, Callum Wood, 21, repeatedly punched a man Pearson had argued with ‘over a girl.’
Pearson, of Captain Fold Road, Little Hulton, admitted offences of robbery; possession of an offensive weapon, namely a piece of wood and two counts of causing actual bodily harm.
Wood, of Coniston Avenue, Little Hulton, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.
In November last year, Pearson, who was 17 at the time, was with another 17-year-old boy. The pair followed a 14-year-old boy, who suffers from autism, on a tram to West Didsbury.
They threatened to stab the boy if he did not hand over his iPhone X, said to be worth about £1,200 and disable its security features.
Pearson admitted robbery and having a bladed article.
Gwen Henshaw, defending, said: “It is rare that a court comes across a more tragic background than Mr Pearson has endured.”
Judge Suzanne Goddard gave Wood a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, a rehabilitation activity requirement and 150 hours’ unpaid work.
But the judge said she couldn’t spare Pearson jail as his offending was too serious. He will serve half of his four-year sentence before being released on licence.