Jury shown CCTV of ‘flashes’ in house inferno murder trial
MORE FOOTAGE SHOWS ACCUSED PAIR AT PETROL STATION
JURORS were shown footage of two ‘flashes’ which were captured on CCTV the night a house fire killed four children.
Zak Bolland, 26, and David Worrall, 28, both deny the murder of Michelle Pearson in an alleged petrol bomb attack at her home in Salford.
Her children, Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and Lia, three, all died in the fire.
Ms Pearson survived but was ‘very seriously injured’ and suffered 68 per cent burns.
She ‘clung onto life’ but died in August 2019, aged 37.
Jurors at Manchester Crown Court have heard that Bolland and Worrall were both previously convicted of the murders of the four children.
They were told Ms Pearson was too ill to take part in the previous trial in 2018.
Prosecutors claim the jury in 2018 would have ‘undoubtedly’ convicted Bolland and Worrall of her murder.
As the trial entered its second week, the jury were shown CCTV footage collected by police. One of the clips shown to jurors was footage which showed two ‘flashes’ at the Pearson house in Jackson Street, Walkden, just before 5am on December 11, 2017.
They were told that Bolland and Worrall could be seen leaving the area after the two flashes.
The pair are accused of throwing petrol bombs into her home.
Two ‘improvised incendiary devices,’ also known as a ‘petrol bomb’ or ‘molotov cocktail,’ were thrown into the kitchen of the house through a broken window, the jury heard.
As the prosecution reached its ‘final stages,’ footage also shown included Bolland and Worrall being seen at a petrol station prior to the incident.
Jurors were told Bolland could be seen holding a green jerry can, which he filled with petrol.
The prosecution is expected to close its case today.
Last week, the jury heard the statement of a firefighter who was called out to the blaze.
Firefighter Janine Chadwick told how she cried as she searched for the children.
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.
“You could just see the glow of the fire around the room,” she said.
“I felt like I had been in there ages, but in reality I hadn’t.”
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.”