Husband guilty of killing three children
Husband guilty of killing three children
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 27, Jan 2010 03:33
By Alex Steger.
A man has been found guilty of killing his son and two step children in a house fire he started last summer.
Kevin Hargreaves, 38, was found guilty of manslaughter at Manchester crown court on Wednesday.
The court heard how Hargreaves started the blaze at his wife's home in Openshaw, Manchester, by pouring petrol over himself and his bed after a row with his partner who he had accused of flirting with a taxi driver.
The 38-year-old is reported to have been drinking all day when he started the fire that killed his eight-year-old son John, his stepson Jordan, 14, and stepdaughter Carly, 19.
He was cleared of murder by the jury on the grounds that he had only wanted to kill himself.
Hargreaves and Ms Owen, his wife of three years with whom he did not live due to their volatile relationship, had been drinking heavily on July 15th last year.
They returned to Ms Owen's, but argued on the journey as Hargreaves thought his wife was blanking him and flirting with another man.
Once inside the house, Hargreaves, who has a history of mental problems and self-harming, attempted to pour petrol over his head but most of it splashed on to the couple's bed. He then lit it with a cigarette lighter.
He told the jury: "I had had enough of life."
Addressing the judge, Hargreaves's barrister Jeffrey Samuels said: "Whatever sentence is imposed, his real sentence will be the knowledge to his dying days that he caused everything that happened, in particular the deaths of three children.
"This was an impulsive, stupid and foolish act which he bitterly regrets. He has taken three lives, has ruined the lives of others and has lost the woman he loved."
Hargreaves had denied three counts of murder. Seven other children survived the fire.