A police officer called to a Salford house hours before it was the subject of a tragic fire-bombing has told an inquest she believed threats made by killer Zak Bolland were 'empty'.
The Walkden property, where Michelle Pearson lived with her five children, was attacked with petrol bombs by Bolland and David Worrall at around 5am on Monday, December 11, 2017. The resulting blaze claimed the lives of Ms Pearson's children Demi, 15; Brandon, eight; Lacie, seven, and Lia, three. Ms Pearson died of her injuries 20 months later in hospital. Bolland and Worrall are currently serving life sentences for their murders.
Inquest hears of 'tit for tat' feud
An inquest into their deaths at Bolton Coroner's Court, which is expected to last eight weeks, has heard the killings occurred during a 'tit for tat' feud involving Bolland and others.
Today (October 12), the court heard how a 'frightened' Ms Pearson rang 999 at around 12:45am on December 11, after Bolland and three others turned up at their terraced housing association home on Jackson Street. Bolland, the inquest was told, threatened to 'break the jaw' of Ms Pearson's then 16-year-old son and 'boot the door off and do your house'.
Officer's evidence on arrest decision
Bolland had earlier been arrested over two incidents on November 26, where windows were smashed at the Pearsons' home, and texts were sent in which Bolland told Ms Pearson: "I am going to petrol bomb your house tonight." He was interviewed but then released with no further action.
Giving evidence today, one of the officers who responded in the early hours of December 11, PC Gemma Quinn, said she intended to try to arrest Bolland over that incident two days later - on Wednesday, December 13, when she was next on shift. She told the court she 'didn't think it needed to be done immediately'.
Asked why, PC Quinn said: "My assessment, my knowledge of Salford - I had worked in Salford for 14 years - I didn't believe at the time, with the information that I had at the time, that I needed to do arrest attempts there and then."
She said she did not believe Ms Pearson was 'lying' and that she and her colleague 'believed' what she had told them. Asked by counsel to the inquest, Laura Nash, what it was that informed her assessment that he didn't need to be arrested that night, she said: "That it was an empty threat."
Incidents of 'individuals making threats' happened quite often in Salford, she said.
The hearing was told her shift was due to finish at 5am, and there was 'unlikely to have been time' for her to try and arrest Bolland personally. Asked if she could have allocated the task to a colleague, she said: "If I thought it was necessary, yes."
PC Quinn said she and PC Grundy 'believed' what Ms Pearson had told them about what had happened. Asked if it was the case she didn't take the threats 'seriously', she replied: "I wouldn't say I didn't take them seriously, as they had been said."
She said in a written statement: "Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen."
Asked if the continued presence of Ms Pearson's son in the house was taken into consideration, she said: "I don't recall my reasoning, my thinking, from that time."
The inquest, due to last around eight weeks, continues.
