Flintshire man ’caused fatal house fire after targeting family home utterly randomly’

A man from Flintshire targeted the house of an elderly couple and their adult children “utterly randomly” and set a fire that left one person dead, a court has heard.

Andrew Gorrell, 54, was wearing a T-shirt depicting the name of a horror film in which the central character was burned alive when he set a fire outside the Wednesbury home of John and Doreen Edwards in the early hours of May 11 last year, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told on Monday.

The fire, which was started in a wheelie bin that had allegedly been moved to block the front door of the property in Holyhead Road, “engulfed” the home and left Mr Edwards with severe injuries which he died from in hospital on May 25.

His wife Doreen Edwards, who was 81 at the time of the fire, and their two adult sons Carl, 60, and Mark Edwards, 57, were all injured and taken to hospital.

Gorrell, from Saltney in Flintshire, Wales, has no known links to the Edwards family, their house or the Wednesbury area, prosecution counsel Rachel Brand KC told a jury of six men and six women.

He allegedly travelled from Wales and was first captured on CCTV at the Wolverhampton Central tram terminus at around 12.40am on May 11 where he got on a tram and went to Wednesbury Parkway, arriving just before 1am.

He was told to move on by staff after being seen loitering outside a care home on Holyhead Road and was also seen near a school before he moved onto the Edwards’ family home.

“It appears the defendant targeted (the address) utterly randomly,” Ms Brand said. “He is not known to the occupants of the house and has no connection, as far as we are aware, with that house or the Wednesbury area.

“He was living some considerable distance away. We don’t know why he came down to the West Midlands on that night in May of last year and we don’t know why he was wandering around Wednesbury in the middle of the night. We don’t know why he decided to set a fire at the home of the Edwards family.

“When he was arrested and interviewed, he made no comment to all questions police asked.

“Only the defendant can tell you why.”

Gorrell admits manslaughter but denies the murder of Mr Edwards.

He also denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Doreen and Mark Edwards and attempting to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Carl Edwards.

He denies arson with intent to endanger life but admitted an alternative charge of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered.

Arson

Gorrell also admits three counts of arson in relation to three separate fires he set in Wednesbury in the hours after the fatal house blaze, in a bin near a pub, a commercial waste bin outside a pizza takeaway and a fire in a council waste bin in a nearby street.

Ms Brand said Gorrell was wearing “distinctive clothing” including a Chicago Bulls jacket, which he was also wearing when he was arrested by North Wales Police on May 14, and a Nightmare on Elm Street T-shirt.

Of the T-shirt, she said: “The lettering said Nightmare on Elm Street. Some of you may know that film, but for those that don’t, I’m told it’s a film where one of the central characters was burnt to death in a fire.”

The court heard a 999 call was made by a neighbour of the Edwards family at 3.06am on May 11 and by the time the first of three fire engines arrived at 3.14am, the wheelie bin fire had spread to the house and into the hallway.

John Edwards was semi-conscious and had suffered severe burns to his face, arms, legs and feet when he was rescued from the ground floor while Carl Edwards had managed to climb out of a first-floor window and into the back garden, where he was suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Mark Edwards, who had been asleep in the living room at the time, was found in an upstairs bedroom where he had gone to alert his parents and brother of the fire and had severe burns to his hands, feet, face and eyes, and nearly did not survive.

Mrs Edwards was semi-conscious and paramedics feared she would go into cardiac arrest.

Ms Brand said: “Sadly, John Edwards did not survive, his injuries were just too severe.

“Doctors advised his family that further treatment was futile and may prolong his suffering, so they were left with really no choice but to accept that expert medical advice.”

Ignition

Fire service investigators ruled out any accidental causes of the fire and concluded it was ignition of the contents of the wheelie bin that started the blaze.

“Notwithstanding that he has now admitted he did set the fire, we say all the circumstances show that the defendant intended that people would be seriously hurt,” Ms Brand said.

“We simply ask you to remember the simple phrase – actions speak louder than words.

“He set a fire in the middle of the night when people were asleep. He moved the wheelie bin and deliberately positioned it outside the front door where it would cause the fire to spread, but also block the exit of anyone inside the house.

“He didn’t alert anyone to the fire. If he had been out to cause a bit of mischief or a bit of damage, he could’ve taken steps to ensure the fire brigade were informed.

“He walked away, leaving the fire to spread and engulf the front of the house with the inevitable consequence that the people inside would be seriously injured.

“He is a man of 54, he is not a child or a silly teenager. He is a mature man. The fact he moved the bin to that position, we say, shows he intended the occupants would be seriously injured.

“It was his choice to set a fire in a bin next to a house where people were asleep as opposed to setting a fire in an empty factory or an empty shop.”

The trial continues.