Boy

A 5-year-old boy died in a fire at a house in Rugby.

A 23-year-old man was tried for his murder but acquitted.

It was said that he had had a row with the child's mother and poured petrol in the kitchen and set it alight and then run off. However, at the trial, the man said that it had been the child's mother that had poured the petrol and set it alight.

The boy was rescued from the house by his mother but died four months later in hospital. The fire took place on 15 November 2018 and the boy died on 21 March 2019.

The boy's mother also suffered serious burns to her legs, her right arm and face.

The man and the boy's mother had previously been a friend of the boy's mother's late partner and they had later had a relationship, but it had become violent and manipulative. The argument at the property on 15 November 2018 was said to have been over the mother having been on the phone to a friend after which the man was said to have started to push her about and threaten to kill her and her children.

The prosecution said that the man, who had been to the house many times before, had been at the house and that they had had a row in the early hours and that the man had threatened to kill the boy’s mother, and had then poured petrol around the kitchen. The prosecution said, 'then he pulled out a lighter and sparked it, igniting the petrol, and ran from the house'. The man was said to have then cycled away.

It was said then that the boy's mother then climbed out through a window but then rushed back into the burning house and rescued her boy. The mother had had two other older children.

However, the man said that during the row that the boy's mother picked the can of petrol up and threw its contents around. He said that they then had a tug of war over the can of petrol, which was seen by several of the woman's children who had been awoken by the noise of the row and that he had then managed to get it off her.

However, he said that the boy's mother then picked the can of petrol up again and began throwing its contents about and that he then left the house, hoping that she would then calm down but that as he did so he saw a flash come from the house as he was about two doors away.

He said that he then ran back to the house and that when he opened the door the heat hit him and he saw the 5-year-old boy and screamed for him to come out, which he did. He said then that the boy rolled on the ground but accepted that he then left the scene without trying to help further or call the fire brigade or knowing where the mother and the other children were.

When he was asked whether he made any attempt to find out where the other children were he said, 'No I didn’t. I should have. I was scared'. When he was asked why he didn't call 999 or try to get help, he said, 'I was in shock. I wish I did get help, because I should have done. I should have gone to the neighbours or got the fire service, I should have done something'.

He said that when he found out how bad the fire was the following morning that he went to the police to, 'tell them what had happened'.

The court heard a recorded interview with a witness who said, 'The man got some petrol and tipped it on the floor, and then the mother threw the lighter down on it. We got out through the window, and then she went back in to get the five-year-old, then came the fire brigade'.

When the witness was asked about the 23-year-old man, he said, 'He was dealing drugs and robbing and stuff like that. He just did nasty things to people. He started fights and stuff, and dealing drugs to under-age people in the park'.

He said that he had seen the man pour some petrol into an apple juice bottle, and said, 'He threw the whole bottle around, and then he left and got on his bike, and then the woman threw the lighter down. She swore and threw it down as he went out of the door. It happened very fast. She threw it so hard on the ground that it broke. She flicked it and dashed it down from a real height. It broke and that caused a massive fire'.