A pair of arsonists who killed four young children in a petrol bomb house attack have been jailed for life for a second time after a mother-of-five died 20 months after the blaze.
Michelle Pearson, 37, suffered 75 per cent burns after two thugs threw petrol bombs through the window of her house in Walkden, Salford, in December 2017.
She was rescued from the home on Jackson Street before being placed in a coma, but passed away in August 2019.
The horrific attack, which also claimed the lives of her children Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven and Lia, three, came after a petty feud between the attackers and the children’s older brother Kyle, 16, who escaped the flames with a friend.
Zak Bolland, 26, and David Worrall, 28, were found guilty of murdering the mother last month and were convicted of the four children’s murders in 2018.
Now Bolland has been sentenced again to 40 years and Worrall for a second time to 37 years, with a judge saying the mother experienced ‘unimaginable suffering’.
Zak Bolland (pictured right), 26, and David Worrall (left), 28, have today been jailed for life after they murdered a mother-of-five and her four young children in a petrol bomb house attack
A third defendant – Bolland’s then girlfriend Courtney Brierley – was previously found guilty of four counts of manslaughter and was jailed for 21 years. She had already pleaded guilty to Ms Pearson’s manslaughter.
CCTV images captured Bolland and Worrall filling up a petrol can at a Texaco fuel station before arriving at the Pearson home in Walkden, Greater Manchester.
They were joined by Brierley and all three made petrol bombs at a nearby address.
The two men then removed a fence panel from the garden, smashed a kitchen window and tossed in two lit petrol bombs, while Brierley waited in a car.
One bomb landed near the stairs, blocking the only exit to the ground floor and trapped the occupants as they lay asleep inside.
Kyle managed to escape from an upstairs window but his four siblings, who were sleeping in a front bedroom, perished in the flames.
Younger sister Lia, aged three, was rescued from the house but died in hospital two days later.
Mrs Pearson, who was sleeping in the same room as Lia, escaped the blaze but was overheard screaming ‘Not the kids! Not my kids!’ as the fire engulfed the three bedroom mid-terrace house.
Michelle Pearson (pictured left, before the attack and right, in hospital), 37, suffered 75 per cent burns after two thugs threw petrol bombs through the window of her house in Walkden, Salford, in December 2017
The horrific attack, which also claimed the lives of Ms Pearson’s children Demi, 15, Brandon (left), eight, Lacie (centre), seven and Lia (right), three, came after a petty feud between the attackers and the children’s older brother
CCTV previously shown to the jury showed Bolland and Worrall at the address at 4.55am for one minute and five seconds.
The cameras recorded a flash then a larger second one from the petrol bombs, before they fled.
Neighbours ran out to help but were beaten back by the heat and flames as multiple 999 calls were made.
Three fire engines scrambled to the scene, the first arriving at 5.04am, with firefighters discovering Brandon face down on his bedroom floor, as if trying to crawl out, and Lacie directly behind him, suggesting she was following her brother to try to escape.
Regarding Ms Pearson’s death, both Bolland and Worrall had previously pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming they had been wrongly convicted of murdering her children, but admitted manslaughter.
Jurors then delivered their guilty verdicts earlier this year following a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.