Salford house fire: Man accused of fire bombing murders says he did not intend to hurt anyone
'I heard like a big whoosh," Zak Bolland tells Manchester Crown Court. 'I didn't look back'
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A man who has admitted to petrol bombing a house and starting the fire that left four children dead, told a jury he did not intend to hurt anyone.
Zak Bolland said he was high on cocaine and alcohol when he tossed a lit vodka bottle at Michelle Pearson's house.
But the 23-year-old told Manchester Crown Court that it was his co-accused David Worrall, 25, who first suggested the fire bombing attack.
He said he thought the victims' home was home was empty when they carried out the attack.
The pair had been to the 35-year-old's house, "kicking off", when her front door was smashed, at about half past midnight on 11 December, he said, adding that it was the latest "tit for tat" attack during a "petty" feud between him and her son, Kyle.
The pair returned about four hours later armed with two petrol bombs, he said.
They removed a fence panel from the back garden, a kitchen window was smashed and two lit petrol bombs thrown into the house in Walkden, Greater Manchester.
One landed near the stairs, blocking the only exit to the ground floor and trapping the victims upstairs as flames engulfed the three bedroom mid-terrace home.
Demi Pearson, 15, her brother, Brandon, eight and sister, Lacie, seven, sleeping in a front bedroom, all perished in the blaze. Ms Pearson was rescued along with her youngest daughter, Lia, three, who died in hospital two days later.
Kyle Pearson, who had been feuding with Mr Bolland, managed to escape.
Mr Bolland, his girlfriend Courtney Brierley, 20, and father-of-one Mr Worrall, all deny four counts of murder.
He said that in the early hours of 11 December he had been drinking and taking cocaine and got "wound up" so went round "kicking off" at Mrs Pearson's house to find Kyle.
Police were called and he saw a patrol car outside the house and assumed officers were "taking them into protection", he told the jury.
He blamed them for an earlier attempt to set fire to his mother's home, where he lived, a couple of minutes walk away from the Pearsons' house.
Mr Worrall suggested they went back to the property to "do it back", he said.
"I just thought it was the right idea and said, 'Should we do it?' and Dave said, 'Yeah'," he told the jury.
They bought £1.50 worth of petrol from a local garage and went to Ms Pearson's home, where the pair smashed the kitchen window with an axe, he lit toilet paper stuffed in the neck of a Budweiser bottle filled with petrol and Mr Worrall threw it in and ran off.
He then tossed a second lit vodka bottle inside which exploded.
"I heard like a big whoosh. I didn't look back," he said. "I did not think it would have been occupied. I assumed police had taken them into protection. I was drunk, high on cocaine, just rushing. I was just doing back to them what they did to me."
Defending, Peter Wright QC, asked him: "Did you intend to kill anyone?"
He replied: "That was not the intention whatsoever. I just intended to cause damage to the property."
Hours later his mother called him to say the children had died and the police were looking for him.
Mr Bolland said: "Devastated. I did not believe it. I had my head in my hands. I put my phone down and told Courtney. She was just in disbelief like I was. I did set the fire but I didn't mean to harm anybody."
Mr Bolland, Mr Worrall and Ms Brierley also deny three counts of attempted murder.
However, he has admitted reckless arson, a charge denied by the other two.
The trial continues.