GUILTY UK - Michelle, 36, Demi, 14, Brandon, 8, Lacie, 7, & Lia Pearson, 3, die in arson fire, 11 Dec 2017

[FONT=&amp]15:07[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Prosecution begin closing speech

Paul Reid QC started his closing speech on behalf of the prosecution, telling the jurors that what they had heard during the trial would ‘arouse strong emotions’.
However he said the prosecution had set out to present its case ‘matter-of-factly’ and he encouraged them to put their emotions to one side and ‘draw appropriate common sense inferences and conclusions’ from what they have heard.
Referring to the background of the case, the QC said the fire had not happened ‘out of the blue’ and pointed to the feud between Zak Bolland and Kyle Pearson and others.
The QC, referring to Mr Bolland, said: “Fuelled by drink and drugs, his anger and violence spiralled out of control as he set about getting back at the people he felt had done some wrong to him.”His co-defendant David Worrall, said Mr Reid, was ‘ready and willing to play his part’ in buying the petrol, making the petrol bombs and carrying out the attack with Zak Bolland.
Referring to the third defendant in the dock, Courtney Brierley, the prosecutor said the jurors may think she was in a different position to Abigail Toone, a Crown witness who had driven the three defendants to and from Jackson Street.
Miss Brierley, according to the QC, knew about the background of violence and damage and had herself been ‘quite unpleasantly hurt’ during one incident.
Despite her text to Zak Bolland on November 26 when she warned him not to take things further, Mr Reid told the jury that by the night of the fire on December 11 she was ‘prepared to play her part in the attack’.
The QC said she ‘assisted and encouraged’ her co-defendants ‘knowing what they were about to do’.
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[FONT=&amp]15:17JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Prosecution speech ends - case adjourned until tomorrow

Drawing his closing speech to a close, Mr Reid invited the jurors to reach guilty verdicts on all the remaining charges, and told them:
“It’s horrific to think that people can behave in a way the prosecution say these people behaved on that night.”
The jurors were sent home for the day and the trial resumes in the morning when Zak Bolland’s barrister, Peter Wright QC, is due to start his closing speech.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT=&quot]10:12ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Zak Bolland's defence summing-up: 'What he did was unspeakably dreadful'[/h]Peter Wright QC, defending Zak Bolland is starting his closing speech as the jury return to court.
Mr Wright says:
“You would need a heart of stone not to be moved by the terrible details of this case.
“Or to have feelings of revulsion and rightful indignation for anyone responsible for such dreadful consequences.
“But your task is not one that is based upon any such natural and understandable feelings.”
Mr Wright said the jury should base their considerations on the evidence.
He said his speech was not designed to gain sympathy for Mr Bolland.
Mr Wright said:
“He neither deserves nor should ever receive any.
“What he did was unspeakably dreadful. In due course he will be punished.”
Mr Wright reminds the jury that Mr Bolland has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.
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[FONT=&quot]10:14ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Jury asked whether they are sure of Mr Bolland's intent[/h]Mr Wright says the central issue in the case is Mr Bolland’s state of mind.
He says Kyle Pearson had characterised threats from Mr Bolland in the past as ‘childish messages’.
The jury are being asked whether they are sure of Mr Bolland’s intent.
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[FONT=&quot]10:21ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Why did Mr Bolland not check whether anyone was in the house?[/h]Mr Wright says the fact that Mr Bolland did not check whether the premises was occupied can be supportive of the prosecution case, but that it can also support his case.
“If he genuinely believed that the house was unoccupied at the time, he would be unlikely or much less likely to check if his intention was to fire the premises of part of them.
“But he didn’t check may underline the utter recklessness of what he did.”
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[FONT=&quot]10:30ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Ms Brierley is ‘not averse to levelling allegations that are demonstrably untrue'[/h]Mr Wright says the jury should ‘treat with care anything Courtney Brierley has to say about Zak Bolland’.
He says Ms Brierley is ‘not averse to levelling allegations that are demonstrably untrue if it suits her purpose’.
Mr Wright described Mr Worrall as a ‘serial liar in his interviews’.
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[FONT=&quot]10:31ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Mr Wright says the correct verdict would be not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter[/h]What of Mr Bolland’s behaviour on the night of the fire, Mr Wright asks.
“There’s not a single redeeming feature to it.
“It’s worthy only of utter condemnation.”
But Mr Wright says Mr Bolland should still be afforded a trial and verdicts by jury.
Mr Wright says the correct verdicts would be not guilty to murder and attempted murder, and guilty of manslaughter.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT=&quot]10:33ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Now for David Worrall's defence speech...[/h]Mr Wright has now finished his speech.
John Ryder QC is now beginning his speech on behalf of David Worrall.
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[FONT=&quot]10:39ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'Four children dead. Killed whilst sleeping in their own beds. All over what?'[/h]Mr Ryder says does not want excuse or minimise the consequences of what happened.
“The enormity of what resulted in this activity and the sheer squalor of the behaviour that led up to them does not need any further emphasis or explanation from me.
“Four children dead. Killed whilst sleeping in their own beds.
“Their mother still in a physical condition which prevents her even coming to court to give evidence before you.
“Quite what her mental anguish must be now and forever more can scarcely be imagined.
“All over what? All because of what?”
“Kyle Pearson summed it up actually. He said they were little petty incidents.
“Tit for tat. Petty games that we shouldn’t have been playing.”
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[FONT=&quot]10:46ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'The pair of them have lied through their teeth and I am not asking you to rely on anything they say'[/h]Referring to the two feuding groups Mr Ryder said:
“They couldn’t care less. They didn’t give a thought to the consequences of their actions beyond their immediate incident.
“Their immediate want to gratify their grudge. Typically by damaging property.”
Referring to Mr Bolland and Mr Worrall, Mr Ryder says:
“The pair of them have lied through their teeth.
“And I am not asking you to rely on anything they say.
“What I have tried to do is find evidence from a different source independent of each of them upon which you can rely.”
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[FONT=&quot]10:55ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'They are too selfish, too self absorbed with their petty quarrel and too stupid to see the likely consequences'[/h]He says:
“There’s nothing unusual about this I am afraid. They don’t care particularly what they do.
“All they are concerned about is to get their own back. It’s tit for tat.”
He adds:
“Despite all these lurid threats, all those assertions of intent to attack people, throughout all this - but for the injury to Courtney Brierley- the acts were against property.
“They were acts of vandalism.
“Certainly the results of what they did were monstrous, but those people actually are not monsters.
“They are yobs and their behaviour was yobbish and loutish.
“That’s what they had in mind when they went to the Pearson household. It was going to be another act of vandalism.
“Another act of getting the better of the other side.
“He (Mr Worrall) did not for one moment expect, still less intend, to kill anybody.
“Frankly they are too selfish, too self absorbed with their petty quarrel and too stupid to see the likely consequences that would have stared anybody else in the face.”
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[FONT=&quot]10:57ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'It simply does not make sense'[/h]Mr Ryder says this was not Mr Worrall’s argument and he did not know the Pearsons.
“It simply does not make sense. They did not set out that night to kill.
“Nor intent to cause grievous bodily harm.”
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT=&amp]11:13ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Prosecution have tried to depict Mr Worrall as 'some sort of maniac'

Mr Ryder says the prosecution have tried to depict Mr Worrall as ‘some form of maniac, a psychopath in the colloquial sense, who is a danger to anybody who comes within range’.
He adds:
“The idea he is some sort of maniac walking around with some lunatic’s grin is very far from the truth. It’s an exaggeration and a dangerous one. That’s not the way he is at all.”
Mr Ryder says Mr Worrall was not ‘enthusiastic’ about his involvement.
He says Mr Worrall ‘followed some way behind’ Mr Bolland.
“He offered absolutely no assistance to Zak Bolland at all. For example in removing that panel.”
“He might well have thought that they were simply there to do further damage.”
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[FONT=&amp]11:21ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]'He has lied and lied and lied again... but he may well not be lying about that'

Mr Ryder says:
“It might have been as David Worrall told you. Yes he has lied and lied and lied again.
“But doubtless like Zak Bolland they are overwhelmed by the consequences of what they did.
“But he may well not be lying about that.”

[FONT=&quot]11:47ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Defence for Courtney Brierley says jury 'will have to make profound decisions'[/h]Andrew Hall QC, for Courtney Brierley, is now speaking.
Opening his speech to the jury, Mr Hall says:
“There can be no greater responsibility on anyone than to be asked to try someone for murder.
“It’s difficult to imagine a more emotional and difficult and grave a case to ask a jury to try than this one.
“In the next few days, probably some time next week, you will have to make profound decisions.
“Life changing decisions which won’t affect you but will affect other people.”
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​https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT=&quot]11:58ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Courtney Brierley defence: 'Can you be sure that she knew?'[/h]Mr Hall says the jury must consider ‘whether you can be sure that she knew that there was a plan to kill or cause really serious injury by setting fire to Jackson Street with petrol bombs’.
He says if the jury can’t be sure about that, that will end the case against her and she should be acquitted.
Mr Hall adds:
“Even if she did know, and her case is she had no idea, but even if she knew that petrol bombs were to be used, thrown through the windows of the house, she has to encourage it or she has to assist it.
“You have to be able to point to the acts of encouragement or the acts of assistance which made the murders possible.”
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[FONT=&quot]12:10ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]This is how the prosecution say Ms Brierley encouraged the two men[/h]Mr Hall is reminding the jury that the prosecution case is that Ms Brierley encouraged or assisted by ‘passing on driving instructions’ when they drove to the petrol station, that she reminded them to ‘put their hoods up’ there, and that she told Mr Bolland ‘to be quick’ when they arrived at Jackson Street.
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[FONT=&quot]12:21ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'She never went there... she didn't set anything on fire'[/h]Talking about the lead up ‘tit for tat’ incidents before the fatal fire, Mr Hall says:
“She (Ms Brierley) played no part at all in any attack on Jackson Street.
“She never went there, she didn’t damage anything, she didn’t set anything on fire.”
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[FONT=&quot]12:29ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'I don't want this to continue. I don't want there to be any more trouble'[/h]Mr Hall says that in text messages by Ms Brierley she says ‘I don’t want this to continue. I don’t want there to be any more trouble.”
He questions whether ‘all of a sudden everything changed and she was prepared to join herself into a murderous arson attack’.
“Nothing we suggest can be pointed to by the prosecution to suggest any change in that position (that she wanted the trouble to end).”
Mr Hall says Ms Brierley didn’t know where they were going when they were in the car driven by Abigail Toone.
He says she repeated instructions on where to go from Mr Bolland, simply so Ms Toone could hear him.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT=&quot]13:04ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'She was virtually imprisoned by him'[/h]Mr Hall says Mr Bolland was in ‘control of almost every aspect of her (Ms Brierley’s) life’.
“She was virtually imprisoned by him,” Mr Hall said.
The jury is told Mr Bolland did not let her visit her family when she wanted to.
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[FONT=&quot]13:38ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Courtney Brierley's defence tells jury: 'We invite you not to destroy her life'[/h]Concluding his speech, Mr Hall says:
“You must not be overwhelmed by the appalling circumstances of this case.
“There could be no greater tragedy than what has happened to that family, except by convicting someone who may be innocent.
“We invite you not to destroy her life and to have the courage to say we cannot find her guilty and we don’t hold her responsible for those deaths.”
The jury have left court and will return on Monday morning, where the judge will finalise his summing up of the case.
The jury will then retire to consider their verdicts.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT=&amp]11:04JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Judge says 'everybody will have reached a view' - but it is up to jury to decide

Mr Justice Davis reminds the jury he has already given them legal directions and that he would now be summing up the evidence they have heard during the trial.
He says:
“That’s me trying to help you with your job which is deciding the facts - who did what. What they intended. When they did it. Who does what.
“All of that, you decide. Not me.
“You are going to try to take account, please, of all the evidence you have heard in court over the last couple of weeks.”
The judge said he would be summing up the case until about lunchtime and this meant he would be ‘selective’ about what he would mention.
He stressed that if he missed something out they believed was ‘important’ they had to take that into account.
Equally he said they could disregard it if he mentioned something which they believed was ‘of no significance at all’.
He said it was up to them to decide whether the defendants were guilty or not guilty.
The judge said he hoped the jurors would not detect that he had settled on a view of the case.
But he said if they had detected a view he asked them to ‘completely ignore it’.
“It’s irrelevant what my view is,” he said.
He added that he would be ‘deceiving you’ if he had not reached a view, adding that everybody in the courtroom will have reached a view.
But he said it was up them to decide the case.


[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]11:17JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]Judge tells jury not to speculate about the cause of the dispute: 'It actually doesn't matter'[/h]Mr Justice Davis reminds the jury that Zak Bolland and members of the Pearson family had known each other for a long time as they all lived in Walkden.
Kyle Pearson, in his evidence, had spoken of knowing Zak Bolland ‘since he was in nappies’, the judge told the jury.
The judge said that in the two weeks up to December 11, the night of the fatal fire, there had been what the prosecution called a ‘dispute’ between the two.He said the dispute had also involved others.
The judge continued:
“You have no evidence as to what it was about in the first place, how it started. Please don’t speculate. I don’t know any more than you do.
“And it actually doesn’t matter what the dispute was about. We know how it manifested itself and how it affected the defendants and indeed the Pearsons.”
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
The jury is out. Hopefully there'll be a verdict by the time we come back.
_________________

[FONT=&quot]12:43JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=3]'It’s very easy for emotion to enter at this stage one way or another'[/h]​After completing his summing up, the judge told the jurors:
“I think I said at the start of the case that this is a case that is bound to arouse strong emotions... but you will have to do as far as you possibly can your task dispassionately.”
He said it wasn’t for the jurors to decide whether the defendants were ‘monsters’ or ‘wicked’.
He added:
“It’s very easy for emotion to enter at this stage one way or another. You are here to decide what they did and what was in their mind at the time they did it.”
Mr Justice Davis asked them to reach unanimous verdicts and that they could take as much time as they needed.
The jurors were led out of the courtroom to begin their deliberations at 12.39pm​.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
 
[FONT="]16:27JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#141414][FONT="][h=3]Jury to continue deliberations tomorrow morning[/h]The jury is sent home for the day and the judge asks them to return at 10am tomorrow to resume their deliberations.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271

*sigh*
Lets just hope its the argument over whether Courtney Brieley was directly involved or not that's taking the time... I've lost faith a bit since the verdict in the Marc Van Dongen case
 
12:30SIMON SMITH
Jury due back in court ‘imminently’
We’re being told that the jury are due back in court ‘imminently’ - stay with us for live updates.


12:33SIMON SMITH
The charges...
A quick reminder of the charges:

Zak Bolland, 23, of Blackleach Drive, Walkden, denies four counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Courtney Brierley, 20, of Worsley Avenue, Walkden, and David Worrall, 26, of Worsley Avenue, Walkden, also deny four counts of murder and three of attempted murder.

All three were also charged with ‘arson being reckless as to life being endangered’ - but late in the trial the judge told the jury to disregard this charge, saying it added nothing to the case.

Bolland’s defence barrister also told the jury that he was not arguing that ‘Bolland did not commit manslaughter’. The jury have been given the option of finding the defendants guilty of manslaughter, if they don’t find them guilty of murder.


12:39JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Bolland and Worral both guilty of murder. Brierley guilty of manslaughter
bolland-crop.jpg

Zak Bolland
Zak Bolland has been found GUILTY of murdering four children,
He was also found guilty of three counts of attempted murder.

david-worrall.jpg

David Worrall

David Worrall has been found GUILTY of murdering four children but found NOT GUILTY of three counts of attempted murder. He was found guilty of three alternative counts of attempting to cause GBH with intent.

courtney-brierley.jpg

Courtney Brierley

Courtney Brierley was found NOT GUILTY of murdering four children but found guilty of the alternative of manslaughter in each case. Brierley was found not guilty of three counts of attempted murder.


12:42JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Courtney Brierley wept in the dock as the verdicts were read out
Members of the Pearson family gasped in the public gallery as the foreman of the jury read out the verdicts.

Courtney Brierley wept in the dock as the verdicts were read out.

Zak Bolland showed no reaction.

The judged thanked the jury members for completing their task.


Walkden fire murder trial: Live updates as jury deliver verdicts
 
Michelle Pearson still sounds in a really bad way:
_________________

12:50JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Court told Michelle Pearson 'may not have absorbed the information' that her children had died
Prosecutor Paul Reid QC tells gives the court an update of Michelle Pearson’s condition.

She remains in hospital.

The QC said she was able at times to get out of bed although one of her eyes had been stitched shut because of her injuries.

He revealed she had had a number of infections in the past and that she was suffering from one at the moment.

“The prognosis is if she were to suffer another infection... there’s a real risk that she may not survive,” said the QC.

When the judge mentions that he had heard in news reports that Michelle Pearson had been told her children had died, Mr Reid explained there was a question as to whether she had absorbed the information.


12:58JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Pearson family members are in court wearing t-shirts of the four dead children
The jurors are now hearing mitigation from the defendant’s barristers ahead of sentencing.

The jury has remained in court as have some members of the Pearson family.

Many Pearson family members are at court, as they have been in previous days, wearing t-shirts featuring pictures of the four children who died.


12:58JOHN SCHEERHOUT
Sentencing will be today
The judge tells the jurors he will pass sentence at 3.45pm and they can attend if they wish.

Walkden fire murder trial: Live updates as jury deliver verdicts
 
Nice long sentences. 40, 37 and 21 year minimums.

16:12
Sentencing expected to begin shortly
The sentencing of Zak Bolland, David Worrall and Courtney Brierley is expected to begin shortly.

We will have all the latest updates from court.


16:32KEY EVENT
Zak Bolland and David Worrall jailed for life
Zak Bolland is handed a life sentence and told he must serve a minimum 40 years behind bars.

David Worrall is also handed a life sentence and told he must serve at least 37 years behind bars.

Courtney Brierley is handed 21 years in a young offenders’ institution.


16:34
Sentences delivered in total silence in court
Bolland bowed his head as he was sent down.

The sentences were delivered in total silence in court, with the Pearson family watching from the public gallery.

Walkden fire murder trial: Bolland, Worrall and Brierley to be sentenced

Zak Bolland is a coward who killed four sleeping children in their beds - and his violent friends went along with him
An unimaginable loss all because of a row over a second-hand Peugeot. This is what the jury were told, and what they weren't told

Evil Zak Bolland slaughtered four innocent children by firebombing their home as they slept.

For him, they were collateral damage in an increasingly bitter and violent local war he had been waging against their brother, Kyle Pearson.

Bolland, 23, thought of himself as a hardman.

Actually he was a coward with a history of picking on the weak and vulnerable, a pyromaniac who used fire, or the threat of fire to deal with his rivals. A workshy, drink and drug-addled petty crook with a nasty, violent temper.

Kyle Pearson, who at 16-years-old was seven years younger than him, fell foul of that temper.

But in the end, callous Bolland missed his real target in his monstrous attack on a family home - instead he killed four young children, Kyle’s siblings, and put their mother Michelle in a coma.

Four young lives, snuffed out, many others shattered by unimaginable loss - all because of a row that started over a second-hand Peugeot worth a few hundred pounds.

The coward who killed four sleeping children - and his violent, stupid friends
 
Hi Legally, stupid question for you - do you understand the sentences, the wording of the article I read says "Courtney Brieley to spend 21 years in a Young Offenders institute" - I'm guessing she won't spend all 21 years in the institute as she'll be a pretty old young offender!

The CCTV of the explosions is shocking, the second explosion is huge... Those poor children
 
I wonder if they'll be any changes to the laws over selling petrol now - two dodgy looking drunk people in hoodies filling a patrol can at that time of day - they aren't going to be mowing the lawn, are they?
 
Hi Legally, stupid question for you - do you understand the sentences, the wording of the article I read says "Courtney Brieley to spend 21 years in a Young Offenders institute" - I'm guessing she won't spend all 21 years in the institute as she'll be a pretty old young offender!

The CCTV of the explosions is shocking, the second explosion is huge... Those poor children
I don't know. I guess she'll transfer to an adult prison at a certain age.
 

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