Zak Bolland is asked why they took two bottles: 'Now I think about it, it would cause more damage'
Mr Bolland told the court they made two bottles so that his co-defendant David Worrall could have one too and he insisted the intention wasn’t to cause more damage.
He said:
“Now I think about it, it would cause more damage but I didn’t think of it that way.”
"Now I think of it"?!? How drunk / off your head would a person have to be to realise that two bottles might be a tad worse than just the one? Oh, he got one another one for his friend so he wouldnt feel left out!
Apologies for the sarcasm - just when I think I've heard enough from this cretin he opens his mouth again and it's infuriating!
[FONT="]15:25JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]David Worrall is questioned again[/h]Mr Bolland’s evidence comes to a close and David Worrall takes to the witness stand, questioned by his QC John Ryder.
The jurors are told that when he was 16 Mr Worrall accepted a caution for assault causing actual bodily harm.
“It was a drunken fight that ended up cutting the guy’s head,” said Mr Worrall.
In December 2010, when he was 17, Mr Worrall was convicted of another assault causing ABH, and in July of that year he was also convicted of drink driving, the court was told.
Mr Worrall dismissed as ‘inaccurate’ a suggestion that he had once hit Abigail Toone’s car with a machete.
He said she ‘started taking it out on me and started screaming at me’ during an altercation in which she was said to be drunk. He denied he had struck her car with a machete.
The defendant also denied another allegation made by Abigail Toone that she had seen him strangle someone.
He admitted he had ‘pinned him to the coach by the throat’ but denied he had strangled him.
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[FONT="]15:27JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]David Worrall on Zak Bolland: 'He's an associate'[/h]Mr Worrall said he had not known the Pearson family before September 10 last year and had not been involved in any confrontation or argument with them.
Asked about his relationship with his co-defendant Zak Bolland, he said: “He’s an associate. I’m wary of him a bit because he attacked me and a friend with a machete and attacked me and my friend’s car.”
The defendant agreed he had been out drinking with friends on December 10 after watching the Manchester derby in pubs on December 10 last year.
He said he got ‘very drunk’ and took cocaine later in the evening because it ‘sobers me up’.
He agreed he visited Michelle Pearson’s home twice that night and had thrown a pole at her door during the first visit.
“I was just acting immature, getting involved in Zak’s argument because I was drunk,” he told the jury.
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[FONT="]15:43JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Mr Worrall denies aggressive behaviour[/h]Mr Worrall admitted he went back to Mr Bolland’s house and later went on the trip to buy petrol from a garage.
The defendant told him how Zak Bolland ‘described some stuff that had been happening, going back and forth between the two families’.
“At first he was showing off in front of me about what he had done,” Mr Worrall told the court.
But later Mr Bolland ‘was starting to wind himself up’. “You could see him and his face. He was getting angry and he’s shouting about it and stuff,” he told the jury.
Mr Worrall told the court he was not angry, adding that he was loud but not aggressive as has been suggested by Abigail Toone.
Asked if he was ‘pumped up’ and clenching his fists, he answered: “I wasn’t doing anything like that.”
The defendant agreed he had had said ‘I want to slice his face open’, which according to the prosecution he said about Kyle Pearson.
But Mr Worrall told the court it was a message he had read out ‘to make my friends laugh’. He denied wanting to slice Kyle Pearson’s face off.
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[FONT="]15:59[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Mr Worrall thought Zak Bolland intended to set fire to bins[/h]M Worrall told the court that his co-defendant Zak Bolland never mentioned wanting to kill someone by fire, although he admitted he himself took an axe along to the home in Jackson Street before the fire.
He alleged ‘Zak told me to grab it’.
“I thought I don’t know who these lads are. I might need it,” he told the court.
He denied carrying it to break a window or helping to fill the bottles with petrol or carrying the bottles to Jackson Street.
Mr Worrall confirmed he thought Zak Bolland intended to set fire to bins at the house.
Asked why he went, he said: “Because he told me to and I didn’t want to question him in the state he was in.”
Mr Worrall said he had expected they would go to the front of the house but that Mr Bolland turned left when they came to a junction.
He said he stopped and that Mr Bolland shouted at him to hurry up.
The defendant said he did not assist in the removal of the fence panel at the rear of the house and ‘just stood there’ as Mr Bolland removed it.
The jurors are reminded that the CCTV shows a figure in light trousers, Mr Bolland, going into the garden first followed by Mr Worrall.
Asked what his co-defendant did, Mr Worrall told the court: “He just started looking around the garden and started making his way down the garden.”
Mr Worrall said he didn’t go far into the garden and stood behind a trampoline.
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[FONT="]16:20[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Mr Worrall: “I was shocked. I just wanted to get out of there”[/h]Mr Worrall said: “Zak’s struck the window with the machete and then he’s gone to light one of his bottles and I started making my way out of the garden as it’s lit.”
He denied throwing a bottle.
When he got back to the getwaway car, Mr Worrall told the court told the court he told Courtney Brierley: “He’s just thrown that through the window.”
He said Miss Brierley appeared to be in shock and said ‘oh my God’.
Mr Worrall denies a suggestion he had appeared to enjoy what had happened.
The jurors have previously heard how Abigail Toone, who was driving the car, had said Mr Worrall had said: “That were real weren’t it?”
“That’s not something I would say,” Mr Worrall told the court.
The defendant appeared to become upset on the witness stand when asked whether he had taken any pleasure or excitement out of the incident.
“No I did not,” he answered.
“I was shocked. I just wanted to get out of there.”
Asked why he later was found with Zak Bolland’s clothes, he said: “He told me to get rid of them as I was leaving... I just didn’t want to question him. I just wanted to get a peaceful exit out of the property.”
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[FONT="]16:23[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Mr Worrall denies he encouraged Zak Bolland[/h]Mr Worrall told the court that when he was interviewed by police following his arrest he ‘mostly’ told the truth although he admitted he also told ‘quite a few lies’.
Asked why, he said: “I have never been in serious trouble before and I was scared.”
The defendant was asked whether he had an intent to kill when he went with Zak Bolland to the house on the second occasion.
“No I did not. I would never do something like that,” he answered.
Asked whether he encouraged Zak Bolland, he said: “No. I just wanted him to do what he was doing and leave me out of it.”
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What an aggressive group of "friends" they were. :scared: It seems they were all the time busy hitting each other, choking each other, wielding machetes and poles, destroying stuff, setting things on fire, threatening others .... I just wish they had all passed out from alcohol and drugs that fateful night.
Kyle will surely regret for the rest of his life to have ever gotten involved with them.
[FONT=&]10:06JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT=&]David Worrall is being cross-examined
David Worrall
The jury is back in court and Peter Wright QC, on behalf of Zac Bolland, is now cross-examining David Worrall.
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[FONT=&]10:36JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT=&]Mr Worrall had told a friend 'I promise you I was not there'
Mr Worrall admits he told some lies to the police but the QC reminded the defendant that he had told his friend Jacob Berry I promise you I was not there.
When it was suggested that was a lie too, Mr Worrall said: I didnt want to involve Jacob in it.
Pressed further, he said: I didnt want to bring him into what had happened by telling him what had happened.
When it was out put to him that he had told his friend straight away that he knew who had done it, Mr Worrall said:
I didnt know what was going through my mind. I was a mess.
He denied it was to save your own skin.
No, because I placed myself at the scene in the police interview, he said, adding: I didnt deny it all.
The defendant denied that he had tried your very best to distance yourself from what took place.
Put to him that he had tried deflect away from yourself onto others, he said: At that time yes.
He admitted his promise to Jacob Berry was a false promise.
He denied he was trying to carry off a very big lie.
Mr Worrall admitted he went to Jackson Street but denied he had carried a bottle.
He admitted he knew children had died in the fire and that he knew who else had been there.
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[FONT=&]10:47JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT=&]Mr Worrall said he had been extremely upset and 'didnt lie completely
Mr Worrall admitted he knew he had with him clothing and other items that belonged to someone else who was there that night.
When it was suggested he had handed the bag of contents to Jacob Berry to involve him, Mr Worrall said he had lost the bag in the back of Mr Berrys car.
When he was asked why he hadnt told police theres a bag I think you might need, Mr Worrall said: I told them during the interview.
The QC suggested that when the defendants lies were undone he had sought to deflect further away from the truth.
I did in part yes, said Mr Worrall.
Asked again why he hadnt immediately told police about the bag, Mr Worrall told the court:
I wanted to tell them my version of events and tell them where it was.
Asked why he had not started by saying he had gone around to the house on Jackson Street four hours before the fatal fire armed with a metal pole, the defendant said:
No, because I was scared of getting into trouble.
[FONT=&]11:29JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT=&]Mr Worrall says he was scared: 'It was Zak telling me what to do'
Asked whether he had assisted in preparing the bottles, Mr Worrall said: “No, it doesn’t take two people to prepare a bottle.”
He denied he was ‘actively involved’ in the preparation of the bottles.
The QC said: “One decanting from the petrol can the petrol and the other holding the bottle.”
“Why? You don’t have to hold a bottle on a flat surface,” said Mr Worrall.
Put to him that he had assisted in the manufacture of the petrol bombs, he said: “That can be done perfectly by one person.”
Mr Worrall admitted he was passed an axe before he got into the car which took them to Jackson Street.
“Didn’t you think ‘I really didn’t want to be involved in this’,” said the QC and Mr Worrall said:
“Yes, I was scared at this point.”
He added:
“I was scared of who was going to come out of the house.”
Asked why he had not just left, he went on: “I felt under pressure to stay... It was Zak telling me what to do and how angry he was.”
When the QC suggested that Zak Bolland had not told him anything by this stage according to Mr Worrall’s version of events, Mr Worrall said:
“He was telling me to get out of the car and stuff. I was scared.”
Mr Worrall denied that he knew the axe was to be used to smash the window and insisted he thought it was just to defend himself.
He denied that he knew the plan was to set fire to the back of the house.
Asked why he didn’t just leave, he said:
“Because I was scared. I didn’t know what to do.”
He said he ‘wasn’t thinking straight’ and added that he was living in Swinton which he said was a ten-minute drive, or 90-minute walk, away.
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[FONT=&]11:44JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT=&]'There are four people dead... and your overriding concern was that you didn't want to be labelled a grass?'
Mr Worrall admitted he had ‘probably’ embroidered a lie that he had lost his mobile phone by telling police he had dropped it and it had smashed.
Mr Worrall said he had been ‘scared of being labelled a grass’.
The QC said:
“There are four people dead. Others in hospital seriously injured and you had been present at the scene and you knew the process and by what mechanism that had been caused.
“And your overriding concern was that you didn’t want to be labelled a grass?”
Mr Worrall said: “I didn’t want anything to happen to my family to grass him.”
He denied that from start to end his concern was for himself and not others and he also denied that he knew ‘full well’ that an attack on the house with petrol bombs was planned.
“I didn’t take part in it,” he said.
“That’s why the axe was taken and I’m going to suggest it was wielded by you to smash the window,” said Mr Wright.
Mr Worrall replied: “I did not.”
“You threw the first petrol bomb,” said the QC and the defendant answered:
“I definitely didn’t.”
“And that since that time all you have tried to do is to deflect from the truth,” continued the QC.
Mr Worrall said:
“No, I didn’t throw bottles into that house.”
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[FONT=&]11:56JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT=&]Mr Worrall tearful as he denies saying he wanted to murder people
Mr Wright completes his questioning of the defendant and now it’s the turn of Andrew Hall QC, representing Courtney Brierley.
The QC puts it to the the defendant that Zak Bolland had claimed it was Mr Worrall’s idea to burn down a house full of sleeping children.
“No chance,” said Mr Worrall.
The defendant denied that Mr Bolland’s fight with the Pearson family was anything to do with him.
Zak Bolland, Courtney Brierley and David Worrall in court (Image: PA)
He agreed with the QC he ‘wasn’t averse to going along for a bit of trouble and back him up’ but that it wasn’t something he wanted.
“I didn’t want to do anything,” Mr Worrall told the jury.
He became tearful on the witness stand when it was suggested to him that Mr Bolland had said he wanted to murder people.
He said:
“I didn’t. I didn’t even know the family.”
[FONT="]12:46JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]'I didn't do anything. I just stood there'[/h]​Paul Reid QC, for the prosecution, is now asking questions of the defendant.
Asked if he was prepared to lift the fence panel, Mr Worrall said: “I didn’t do anything. I just stood there.”
The QC said the CCTV suggested Zak Bolland had lifted the fence panel but he added that Mr Worrall had told police he had been involved in its removal.
“I could not remember,” said Mr Worrall.
Asked again if he had prepared to help, the defendant said:
“I wasn’t. I just thought I had done because I could not remember.”
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[FONT="]13:34JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]'I don’t know what people do with petrol bombs, do I?'[/h]Asked about what happened in the kitchen of Blackleach Drive where the petrol bombs are said to have been manufactured, Mr Worrall said: “I just thought he’s going to do what he’s doing and I’m just going to leave him to it.”
He said Zak Bolland had shouted at Courtney Brierley to get to the tissue to stuff into the necks of the bottles. When it was put to him that Abigail Tooney had said Courtney Brierley was in the car, Mr Worrall told the court: “She wasn’t.”
Mr Worrall is asked about his claim that he thought they were going to set fire to bins and why they would go to so much trouble to make petrol bombs. The defendant said petrol bombs could be be thrown into bins. He added: “It doesn’t have to be thrown does it?.”
When it was suggested he knew petrol bombs were for being thrown, Mr Worrall continued : “I don’t know what people do with petrol bombs, do I?”
He added: “It can just be dropped into a bin. It doesn’t have to be thrown.”
When it was put to be him it ‘doesn’t make sense’, the defendant told the jury: “I wasn’t really doing it.”
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[FONT="]13:36JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Mr Worrall agrees 'anyone inside would be lucky to survive the fire'[/h]Mr Worrall told the court Zak Bolland started to ‘get wound up’ but denied he threatened to kill people when they went to Jackson Street four hours before the fire.
He said they were in Abigail Toone’s car when a message came through to them that ‘the lads’ were at Jackson Street. The court heard the lads were Kyle Pearson, his brother Lewis Pearson and Luke Flemming.
Within a minute of the call, the decision had been made to go to a petrol station to buy petrol, according to Mr Worrall.
The defendant said he had realised Michelle Pearson was in the house as he had seen her there earlier in the evening. He insisted he only realised there might be children there when he saw children’s play things in the back garden of the house moments before the fatal fire was started.
“Yes, a child, one or more,” said Mr Worrall when asked if he thought then children were in the house.
Mr Worrall said he had assumed Zak Bolland would only set fire to bins and only realised later he was ‘going to petrol bomb the house’.
Asked what would happen to the children in the house, he said: “They would either suffer great injury or die.” He agreed anyone inside would be lucky to survive the fire.
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[FONT="]13:58JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]CCTV video of fire played in court[/h]CCTV of the fire, showing the rear of the house on Jackson Street, was replayed in court. It shows, the QC said, the two male defendants going into the garden after the fence panel had been removed at 4.54am and 54 seconds.
Another 41 seconds elapses before a flash from the first petrol bomb is seen, Mr Reid told the court. Asked why it took so long, Mr Worrall said: “He was making his way down the garden really slowly because it was pitch black and he couldn’t see anything.”
Mr Worrall says he was standing near the trampoline at the rear of the garden and that Zak Bolland ‘smashed the window’, although none of this can be seen on the footage.
The defendant’s case is that he ran off when he saw Zak Bolland bending down to light the first bottle, the court heard.
The footage shows a figure, Mr Worrall, leaving the rear and as he makes his way away a second, much larger flash can be seen. But the QC questions Mr Worrall about the nine seconds between the first flash and Mr Worrall exiting the garden. Mr Worrall suggests the first flash is the tissue paper being lit.
When he was reminded he had told police he didn’t see flames in the house, the defendant said: “I have seen him light the tissue but I didn’t see any flames in the house.”
He said he didn’t see Mr Bolland throw the first bottle into the house. “As he’s about to throw it, I left,” he said.
Asked why it took him nine seconds between the first flash and leaving the garden, he said: “It’s pitch black and I didn’t run out of the garden. I could not see where I was going. I could not sprint.” He added later: “I didn’t fully sprint on the way out.”
When it was put to him that the version of events he had told he jury was ‘completely inconsistent’ with what he had told the police, Mr Worrall said: “Yes, it was wrong what I said to the police. I didn’t sprint out of the garden because I couldn’t see.”
When it was put to him that he would have exited the garden far quicker if what he was saying was true, he said: “I made my way out. I didn’t see a flash. I didn’t see it.”
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[FONT="]14:53CHRIS SLATER[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Trial resumes after lunch break[/h]The trial is back underway after the lunch break.
The judge, Mr Justice William Davis was just clarifying some matters with one of the defendants, David Worrall who is still in the witness box.
Mr Worrall says in the lead-up to them going to Jackson Street, “I didn’t want to do anything, I just wanted to keep quiet when he (Mr Bolland) was in that kind of mood.”
He says as they approached the house: “I just followed him, I was pretty scared at this point. I didn’t know who was in this house and what they were capable of.”
We are now due to hear evidence from Courtney Brierley shortly.
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[FONT="]15:02CHRIS SLATER[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Courtney Brierley enters the witness box - speaks of 'toxic and horrible" relationship with Zak Bolland[/h]Courtney Brierley, has now been brought back to into the witness box to give her evidence. As with the other two defendants, she is accused of four counts of murder, three of attempted murder and one charge of arson being reckless as to whether life being endangered.
She denies all the charges against her.
She is wearing a patterned top with a black cardigan. She stands, facing the jury, to take the oath, before accepting the judge’s offer to sit down.
She is asked to keep her voice up. She is being asked questions by her barrister Andrew Hall QC, and is being asked to confirm some personal details.
She is 20 now and says she was 19 when she met co-defendant Zak Bolland and they met “at a few parties.”
“We had the same friendship group”, she says.
She says she was her first serious boyfriend and at first it was “nice” but then it became “toxic and horrible”.
“It started with him not allowing me to see my friends” she says. “I felt isolated and had no one to speak to” she adds.
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[FONT="]15:09CHRIS SLATER[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Courtney Brierley sobs as tells of how Zak Bolland 'kept her locked in his room'[/h]Miss Brierley says Mr Bolland “couldn’t stand the thought of me to talking to anyone else and wanted me all to himself.”
She says he made her delete all the social media apps on her phone and “put restrictions on my phone so I couldn’t access anything.”
She says he wouldn’t let her see her family, including her mum and sister who was especially close to. “He would keep me locked in his room” she says.
Asked what her family thought of Mr Bolland she says: “My mum hated him and he hated her.”
She becomes tearful, and begins sobbing into a tissue, as she says he would take all her clothes away from her so she was unable to leave the house.
Miss Brierley says Mr Bolland was “different” and it “affected him a lot” when he was drinking and taking drugs, though she says she also began drinking with him.
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[FONT="]15:15CHRIS SLATER[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Miss Brierley: Zak 'strangled me ... punched me a few times'[/h]Miss Brierley is now accusing Mr Bolland of being violent during their relationship. She fights back tears as she says:
“He strangled me, put his hands over my mouth so I couldn’t scream for help.
“He had punched me a few times, in the head. He had thrown water in my face, pushed me off the bed, kicked me, made my nose bleed. He’s done a lot.”
The court is now shown a photograph of Courtney Brierley, from July last year, with a black eye which she alleges was the result of being struck by Mr Bolland at his home on Blackleach Drive where they were living together.
The court is told she jumped down from a porch roof of the house and fell onto a car below, which she says was to get away from him.
“He was just hitting me and hitting me, I didn’t think he would stop” she says.
The court hears the police attended by she didn’t make a complaint. They did however leave with a domestic violence leaflet and asked for her mum’s phone number.
She says the pair were okay when they weren’t drinking. She says when he was sober he would say “I’m sorry, that’s not me” and would blame the drink.
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[FONT="]15:57CHRIS SLATER[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Courtney Brierley on 'tit-for-tat' incidents[/h]Miss Brierley, and the jury are being shown photographs of, damage to her step-father’s car and offensive graffiti at the end of the driveway about Mr Bolland.
She says this happened on the November 26 last year and was one of the first in the number of ‘tit for tat’ incidents which arose out of the dispute the jury has previously been told about.
She admits on another occasion running out of Mr Bolland’s house with a hammer after a gang of lads “who all had weapons” turned up and were threatening them and she was hit in the face during the scuffle.
She says she at no point used the hammer or threatened to. She claimed she was just following Mr Bolland and their dog and the hammer ‘was the first thing I saw” and she only picked it up because the gang had weapons.
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[FONT="]16:15CHRIS SLATER[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Courtney Brierley recalls night before fire[/h]Asked by her barrister Mr Hall QC, if she considered leaving Mr Bolland, Miss Brierley simply replies ‘No.’ “Why not?” she is asked. “Because I loved him” she says.
Mr Hall is now asking about the night before the fatal fire, Sunday December 10 last year.
Miss Brierley says she was watching films in the bed when a group of people including David Worrall, arrived at the house on Blacleach Drive with drink on that evening. She says “I wanted to stay in bed, I didn’t want to drink” she says. However she says Mr Bolland text her telling her to come downstairs and “stop being morbid.”
She says she wanted to go home (to her mum’s house) but Mr Bolland “wouldn’t let her” so she text her and pretended to have a stomach ache.
Asked why she wanted Mr Bolland (and Mr Worrall) to go round to Jackson Street, the first time in the evening, she says, “no.”
Asked why she didn’t tell him to stay in with her, she replies: “Because he wouldn’t listen. It wasn’t a relationship where I could tell him what to do.”
She’s asked what she consumed at the house she says “a couple of bottles of Budweiser.”
She adds she’d also taken cocaine but that it had no effect on her.
Miss Brierley the various incidents in the tit-for-tat dispute between Mr Bolland (and his friends) and the Pearsons was being discussed by those at the house but she played no part in those discussions and when asked if she had any interest in it she replies “no.”
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[FONT="]10:38[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Trial resumes: Courtney Brierley in witness box[/h]The judge and jury are back in court and Courtney Brierley is in the witness box ready to continue giving evidence.
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[FONT="]10:53[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley remained in car at garage[/h]Courtney Brierley is being questioned by her barrister Andrew Hall QC about the events of that night.
Ms Brierley says they got in Abigail Toone’s car.
Asked why she went along with them, she said: “He (Mr Bolland) would never let me stay on my own.”
She said before they left, Mr Bolland said ‘grab that petrol can’ or ‘grab that jerry can’.
They went to a petrol station. Ms Brierley says Mr Bolland and Mr Worrall went to the garage and she remained in the car.
They parked down a side street to avoid CCTV, and Ms Brierley says she reminded them to ‘keep their hoods up’.
“I knew he didn’t want his face to be seen.
“Did you know at that point what he (Mr Bolland) was going to do?,” Mr Hall asks.
“No, not at all,” Ms Brierley replied.
She said she thought the petrol might be used to set a bin on fire.
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[FONT="]11:11[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley thought Mr Bolland was going to 'set fire to the bins’[/h]Ms Brierley says she and Abigail remained in the car while Mr Worrall and Mr Bolland went into the house at Blackleach Drive for about ‘10 to 15 minutes’.
She said Mr Bolland was ‘quite drunk’.
The two men got back in the car.
She says Mr Bolland gave directions. She says she thought Mr Bolland was going to ‘go to Michelle’s’ and ‘set fire to the bins’.
Ms Brierley says she has never been involved in ‘those sort of incidents before’.
She said she wanted to stop Mr Bolland from getting involved, but didn’t believe there was anything she could do to stop him.
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[FONT="]11:14[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley said she was shocked after hearing about what had happened[/h]Ms Brierley says Ms Toone parked the car near a ginnel and that the two men got out.
They later arrived back in the car, Mr Worrall first, she says.
Mr Hall asks: “Did you say anything to encourage him to do that?”
“No not at all.”
When they got back in the car, she heard petrol had been thrown or poured ‘through Michelle’s window’.
“I was shocked,” Ms Brierley said.
“I don’t remember what I said. I think it was like ‘oh my God’ or no or something.”
“I was shocked he had done that.”
Mr Hall says the prosecution case is that Ms Brierley ‘knew all along’ that he was going to do that.
“That’s not true,” Ms Brierley said.”I don’t care what he would have done to me, I wouldn’t have let him to that.”
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[FONT="]11:15[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley: "I didn’t do anything wrong"[/h]Ms Brierley says she first heard about what had happened the following morning.
She said she heard when Mr Bolland rang his mother who told him the police were at her house.
“Did you think you were in trouble,” Mr Hall asks.
“No because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
She says she wanted to go home but that Mr Bolland said she couldn’t until he had handed himself in.
“I wanted to get as far away as possible from him.”
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[FONT="]11:16[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley answered no comment when interviewed by police[/h]Ms Brierley was arrested by police and interviewed.
She said she answered no comment to questions on the advice of a solicitor.
Asked why, she said: “I wasn’t thinking straight at that point.
“I still loved did love Zak and I didn’t want to tell the police his involvement in it. I didn’t want to lie as well.”
She said Mr Bolland has corresponded with her while she has been in prison saying she loves him and that he wants to marry her when they get out.
Ms Brierley said she did not respond.
[/FONT] https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
[FONT="]11:17[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley denies having any knowledge of what was to happen[/h]Closing her case, under questioning from Mr Hall Ms Brierley denies encouraging Mr Bolland and denies having any knowledge of what was to happen.
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[FONT="]11:18[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley is now being cross examined by Mr Bolland's barrister[/h]Peter Wright QC, for Mr Bolland, is now cross examining Ms Brierley.
He claims that Ms Brierley has been ‘most economical with the truth’.
He says that Ms Brierley has ‘exaggerated the nature of that relationship’ to be ‘unfavourable’ towards Mr Bolland.
“He was not violent to you as a matter of course,” Mr Wright says.
“There was violence to me many times,” she replies.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]11:19[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley says Mr Bolland had been violent towards her[/h]Mr Wright references one occasion when Ms Brierley says she escaped from Mr Bolland through a window.
”You were both drunk and fooling about,” Mr Wright says.
“No I was escaping him, he was hitting me,” she replies.
[/FONT] https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
[FONT="]11:47[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Ms Brierley 'made false rape allegation to police'[/h]Mr Wright says she previously made a false rape allegation to police.
He says Ms Brierley reported it after she ‘feared that others may find out that you had had sex with this lad’.
“You had distorted what had happened into a false allegation of rape didn’t you,” Mr Wright asks.
“Yeah,” Ms Brierley replies.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]11:49[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Barrister accuses Ms Brierley of blaming Mr Bolland 'whenever she is in trouble'[/h]“Whenever you are in trouble you then blame Zak,” Mr Wright says.
“No, that’s not true at all.”
“You don’t face up to the truth,” Mr Wright adds.
“No,” Ms Brierley replies.
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[FONT="]12:05[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Barrister says Ms Brierley 'quite capable of making your mind up about things'[/h]“You’re quite capable of making your mind up about things aren’t you,” Mr Wright says.
“Yes,” she replies.
“When you have had drink you become volatile and unpredictable,” the QC adds.”No,” Ms Brierley said.
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[FONT="]12:29ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]'I didn't have a clue'[/h]Under questioning from Mr Wright, Ms Brierley denies being ‘actively involved’ in the construction of the petrol bombs.
”You were part of what was going on,” Mr Wright said.”
“No I didn’t have a clue,” she replied.
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[FONT="]12:30ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Courtney Brierley: 'No clue what he was about to do'[/h]Mr Wright said:
“You involved yourself in those terrible events which led sadly to the deaths of all those children and the injuries to Michelle Pearson and others.”
Ms Brierley said
“No. I had no clue what he was about to do, what he was planning or what his intentions were.”
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[FONT="]12:35ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Zak Bolland 'threatened me if I left him'[/h]Mr Reid is asking about her relationship with Mr Bolland.
He says Ms Brierley wasn’t being ‘forced’ to stay with him.
She said:
“He threatened me if I left him. I could have but he would have done things.”
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[FONT="]13:04[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Courtney Brierley on previous incident at house: "I could have hit them with the hammer but I didn’t"[/h]Mr Reid is asking about one of the ‘tit for tat’ incidents before the fatal fire.
After Kyle Pearson and his friend Bobby Harris arrived at Mr Bolland’s house, where Ms Brierley was, she left the property with a hammer.
Mr Reid said “You are a young woman who is prepared to engage in violence if it suits your purpose.”
She answered: “I wasn’t going to attack them with the hammer. I had no intention to.
“I could have hit them with the hammer but I didn’t. I just wanted them to go away.”
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The judge and jury are back in court and the trial is resuming after the lunch break.Prosecutor Paul Reid QC is resuming his questioning of Courtney Brierley.
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[FONT=&]14:26[/FONT] [FONT=&]Ms Brierley asked about bin fire at Michelle Pearsons house
Mr Reid is questioning Ms Brierley about an incident on December 9 when a bin was set on fire at Michelle Pearsons house by Mr Bolland.
Ms Brierley said: I knew he was going to set fire to the bin.
Did you try and stop him?, Mr Reid asked.
No because I knew I couldnt stop him, Ms Brierley replied.
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Mr Reid questioning Ms Brierley about events leading up to fatal fire
[FONT=&]Mr Reid is now coming to question Ms Brierley about the events leading up to the fatal fire.[/FONT] [FONT=&]He says things started to turn nasty in the house.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Nobody was getting aggressive from my point of view anyway, Ms Brierley adds.
[/FONT] [FONT=&]14:42[/FONT] [FONT=&]Ms Brierley thought petrol can was only going to be used in case Ms Toones car ran out of petrol
Abigail Toone in her evidence said she thought they were planning something.
I disagree with that, I didnt hear anything, Ms Brierley said.
Ms Toone, Ms Brierley, Mr Worrall and Mr Bolland then went to a petrol station.
Ms Brierley accepted she said keep your hoods up.
Why were you telling them to do that? Mr Reid said.
I told them to keep them up because I knew he didnt want his face to be seen.
She said she knew this because Mr Bolland directed them to park on a side street away from CCTV.
I knew they was up to no good because they didnt park where there was CCTV, Ms Brierley said.
She said she saw them with a petrol can but that she thought it was only going to be used in case Ms Toones car ran out of petrol.
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[FONT=&]14:43[/FONT] [FONT=&]Ms Brierley 'didnt know there were petrol bombs'
Ms Brierley says she never saw the petrol bombs before the incident.
You dont need petrol bombs to set fire to a bin do you? Mr Reid asked.
I didnt know there were petrol bombs, Ms Brierley said.
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[FONT=&]14:49ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT=&]Ms Brierley maintains she thought only bins would be set on fire
Ms Brierley maintains she believed they were going to set fire to some bins, as had happened previously.
She said:
I wouldnt have let them do that when there was kids in the house, that is just sick.
OH PLEASE!!! Surely you can be a bit more imaginative than that, love - didn't she ask why they didnt just take the car to the petrol station and fill it up if that was the case?! :banghead:
I just read about the false rape allegation she made to the police - it says a lot about her character....
OH PLEASE!!! Surely you can be a bit more imaginative than that, love - didn't she ask why they didnt just take the car to the petrol station and fill it up if that was the case?! :banghead:
I just read about the false rape allegation she made to the police - it says a lot about her character....
[FONT="]14:58ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]'I would have tried to stop him. I would have tried anything'[/h]Closing his cross examination, Mr Reid said: “Horrific as it is for you to admit now, you were prepared to go along with, help and encourage what they were doing weren’t you?”
“No, not at all, Not in the slightest,” Ms Brierley said.
In re-examination, Ms Brierley tells her barrister Andrew Hall QC that she would have tried to stop Mr Bolland if she knew what was going to happen.
“I would have tried to stop him. I would have tried anything,” she said.
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[FONT="]15:36ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Judge questions Ms Brierley[/h]The judge is now asking Ms Brierley a few questions.
He asks why she thought they were ‘up to no good’.
She said: “Because they went to the park away from the CCTV and didn’t want to be seen.”
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[FONT="]15:43ANDREW BARDSLEY[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Trial adjourned - closing speeches to be given tomorrow[/h]Ms Brierley has now finished giving her evidence.
The case for all three defendants has now concluded.
The court has been adjourned until 11am tomorrow, when the judge will set out matters of law for the jury.
Then the prosecution and defence will give their closing speeches.
[/FONT] https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...r-news/walkden-house-fire-trial-live-14598271
[FONT="]11:35JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Judge is beginning summing up: 'Defendants do not have to prove anything'[/h]The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, gives the jury a 20-page document titled ‘directions of law’ which he said they must apply in this case.
Describing the burden of proof which applies in this and every other case, he said:
“The prosecution brought this case against these three defendants and the prosecution have the burden of proving it throughout.”
Even though the defendants had given evidence, the judge said the burden did not fall on them to prove anything.
He told the jury:
“The prosecution prove their case if on all of the evidence you are satisfied so that you are sure of the guilt of each defendant you are considering.
“Another way of expressing that that standard is that you are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt.”
[/FONT]
[FONT="]13:32JOHN SCHEERHOUT[/FONT] [FONT="][h=3]Judge says jurors can consider manslaughter if they are not sure of intent[/h]The judge discharged the jury from considering the charge of arson being reckless as to life being endangered.
The judge told the jury:
“The reason I discharge you from giving verdicts is because I have come to the conclusion it actually adds nothing to the case.”
The jurors are reminded that Zak Bolland had admitted arson although the others denied it.
The judge said Mr Bolland had accepted he had thrown a petrol bomb into the house and that he caused the deaths of four people.
To convict him of murder, the jurors had to be sure that he intended to kill or cause really serious harm, the court heard.
If the jurors were not sure about intent, they had to go on to consider an alternative of manslaughter where a ‘reasonable and sober person’ would believe that ‘some harm’ would have resulted, the judge said.
The judge told the court that Zak Bolland’s barrister, Peter Wright QC, had told him that it was not argued that his client had not committed manslaughter.
The judge said:
“If you get to that question, you are bound to convict Mr Bolland of manslaughter.”
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