The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Blaze survivor speaks of relief at justice being done
A WOMAN whose family were murdered in a fire at their home said “justice had been done” after two men were convicted of the killings.
Angela Sharkey spoke of her relief after a jury found Scott Snowden and Robert Jennings guilty of the murder of her husband Thomas Sharkey Sr, their son Thomas Jr, 21, and eight-year-old daughter Bridget.
The couple’s children died in the blaze at their home in Scott Court, Helensburgh, on July 24 2011, while 55-year-old Mr Sharkey Sr died of his injuries in hospital six days later.
Snowden, 38, and Jennings, 50, were also found guilty of attempting to murder Mrs Sharkey and will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow today.
Speaking after the verdict, Mrs Sharkey said it had been an emotional day for everyone involved in the case and that she was “delighted” with the outcome.
“Justice has been done, that’s the main thing, and all the people who worked really, really hard — their hard work has been rewarded with the right result and that’s important for me,” she said.
“To know that it’s not going to happen to some other family is the main thing, that has always been the main thing for me.”
Mrs Sharkey said she did not know what the future held for her, but that she would “just have to start again” and take things one day at a time.
“I’m confident that I’ll learn to deal with it because I have to,” she said.
During the 11-week trial, the jury was told Jennings set the fatal fire in the early hours of the morning on the instructions of Snowden, who was in Mexico at the time.
Jennings was said to have acted as Snowden’s “hired hand” to extract revenge whenever something annoyed him.
Mr Sharkey Sr had intervened in relation to a drug debt and drug dealer Snowden hated him, the jury heard.
Jennings was spotted on CCTV footage near the property on the night of the fire and witnesses identified him by his distinctive gait.
Petrol was poured through the letterbox of the only door in the property and set alight, leaving no means of escape for the family.
Mr Sharkey Sr had tried desperately to get out and Thomas Sharkey Jr and his sister had succumbed “pretty quickly” after inhaling gas and smoke.
Snowden and Jennings were “wickedly reckless” and had not cared whether their victims lived or died, depute advocate Alex Prentice said.
After the fire, Snowden told one witness that Mr Sharkey Sr “got what he deserved” in the fire and shrugged his shoulders when the children’s deaths were mentioned.