Police Officer Regrets Not Arresting Arsonist Before Fatal Attack
An inquest heard that a police officer stated it would have been preferable to arrest an arsonist who had threatened a mother before he murdered her and her four children.
A police officer told an inquest that in an ideal world, it would have been better to arrest an arsonist who had threatened a mother before he went on to murder her and her four children. Zak Bolland, 26, smashed the windows of the home of Michelle Pearson, 37, where she lived with her young family on Jackson Street, Walkden, Greater Manchester, as part of an escalating feud, Bolton Coroner's Court heard.
Bolland would later threaten to firebomb Ms. Pearson's house and eventually set it alight, killing all four children inside. Ms. Pearson died aged 37 in August 2019, more than a year and a half after her children. She passed away in hospital, clutching a photo of her murdered children, after suffering 68% burns to her body.
The inquest into the deaths of Ms. Pearson and her youngsters was told that when Bolland initially smashed the windows of their home, police attended. A statement was taken from her naming Bolland as the perpetrator for the attack on the morning of November 26, 2017. Later that day, he sent her text messages demanding £500 and threatening to petrol bomb her home.
Police were called to the house a second time. Pc Robert Webster, who was a probationary officer with six months of service at the time, said Ms. Pearson was "fed up and frustrated." He stated she told him she was anxious and unwilling to go to court to prosecute Bolland over the smashed windows or the threats. Mr. Webster informed her that if Bolland denied smashing her windows, it was his word against hers, and a conviction was unlikely if she was not prepared to go to court. The officer did not at that time attempt to find and arrest Bolland, who lived a few hundred yards away.
He testified that police were "extremely busy" and "short-staffed," describing it as the busiest shift he had attended up to that point. He agreed with Anna Morris KC, representing the Pearson family, that grounds existed to arrest Bolland after the statement was taken on November 26. Ms. Morris questioned if arresting him would have been the best safeguarding measure. The officer replied, "In an ideal world, yes. There were other priority incidents we had to attend to."
Two days later, another officer "closed" the case into the smashed window after Bolland refused to provide a statement in a 12-minute interview. He was released with "no further action" (NFA). Four days later, Bolland returned to Ms. Pearson's home, taunting her and calling her a "grass" and a "rat." She again called the police, and Mr. Webster was among the responding officers. He told the inquest they had to explain what "NFA" meant, and Ms. Pearson was upset and puzzled, wanting Bolland prosecuted. She seemed willing to take the matter further at that point.
However, the court heard that the investigation had been closed on the police computer system. Mr. Webster stated the system did not appear to record the identity of the person who closed the crime. Ms. Pearson had also reported her windows being smashed, her bin set on fire, and graffiti painted on her walls as part of the escalating feud.
Less than a week later, in the early hours of December 11, 2017, Bolland and accomplice David Worrall, 28, smashed Ms. Pearson's rear windows. They threw in petrol bombs that ignited near the stairs, blocking the only ground-floor exit and trapping the sleeping family upstairs as flames spread. Demi Pearson, 15, her brother Brandon, eight, and sisters Lacie, seven, and Lia, three, all died in the blaze.
In 2018, Bolland and Worrall received four life sentences for the petrol bombing, with minimum terms of 40 and 37 years respectively. Bolland's girlfriend, Courtney Brierley, 20, was jailed for 21 years for four counts of manslaughter. Their trial revealed the attacks stemmed from an escalating feud between Bolland and one of Ms. Pearson's sons. She had contacted police at least five times in the two weeks before the firebombing and had pleaded to be rehoused.
The eight-week inquest, investigating potential missed opportunities by police and other agencies to protect the family, continues. The family described Demi as a "happy, smiley child" and Brandon as a "mummy's boy," while Lacie was a "little diva" and Lia a "little chatterbox."
"All of the children had such bright futures ahead of them," the family statement read. "We cherish the short time we shared with them."