An inquest has heard that Michelle Pearson, a mother-of-six, died clutching a photograph of four of her children who were murdered in a petrol bomb attack on their family home. Ms Pearson, aged 37, died after spending 21 months fighting injuries she suffered in the blaze in Walkden, Salford.
Her family placed a photograph of her children in her hand and wrapped a crucifix around it as she died in hospital, following what they described as a "lengthy and courageous" battle. "We know that she is back with her children," the family said in a statement read at Bolton Coroner's Court on Monday.
Inquests begin nearly nine years after attack
The tragedy has returned to the spotlight as inquests into the deaths of Ms Pearson and her four children began on October 5. Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and Lia, three, died after petrol bombs were thrown into their home on Jackson Street in the early hours of December 11, 2017.
Ms Pearson survived the initial blaze but suffered severe burns and spent months in a coma. She died in hospital on August 25, 2019, from complications of her burns.
Family had pleaded for rehousing
The inquest heard her family said she had been "pleading with" Salford Council to rehouse her in the weeks before the attack. They said she was "beyond stressed" by an escalating "tit-for-tat feud", while her children were said to have been "petrified" of living at the property.
Zak Bolland and David Worrall were jailed for life after being convicted of murdering the four children in May 2018. They were ordered to serve minimum terms of 40 and 37 years respectively. Bolland's then-girlfriend Courtney Brierley, who waited in a nearby car during the attack, was jailed for 21 years for manslaughter.
Bolland and Worrall were later convicted of Ms Pearson's murder at a separate trial in 2021. Brierley admitted manslaughter and received an additional 12-year sentence to run concurrently.
Feud and threats before the attack
Senior coroner Timothy Brennand opened the inquests, which are expected to last up to eight weeks, by reading sentencing remarks made by trial judge Mr Justice William Davis. The court heard there had been a feud "between some members of the Pearson family and Zac Bolland and Courtney Brierley". "What lay behind the feud has never been made public," the judge said.
The inquest heard cars had been damaged and Bolland had smashed windows at the Pearson family home with a hammer. He was also said to have "threatened to use fire" against the property. Police and the fire service became involved, with the letterbox at the house sealed up. The word "grass" was also spray-painted on the walls of the property and a wheelie bin in the front garden was set alight.
Mr Justice Davis described "a series of relatively trivial incidents gradually increasing in seriousness which had no conceivable justification, but which could and should have gone no further".
Attack details and state agency scrutiny
The inquest heard Bolland and Worrall had been drinking and taking cocaine before going to the family home armed with an axe and a machete. They had made two petrol bombs, one using a large clear bottle and another from a beer bottle. Worrall smashed a rear window and threw one inside, where it ignited "but only to a limited extent". Bolland's petrol bomb then "exploded with considerable force", with the resulting blaze engulfing the house.
"The defendants must have known that they had been responsible for setting on fire an occupied house yet they behaved as if nothing had happened," the trial judge said in sentencing remarks. The fire was described at the inquest as "swift and deadly".
Mr Brennand said the hearings would examine whether there had been "any predictable threat to life" and "what could or should have been done that might have prevented these deaths". The inquests will scrutinise the involvement of state agencies before the attack, including how authorities responded to reports made by Ms Pearson about threats against her family. "The family are at the heart of this process," Mr Brennand said. "The intention is to give the family a voice."
Moving pen portraits of the children were also read to the court. Demi was remembered as a "happy and smiley child with a heart of gold", while Brandon was described as the family's "brainbox" with an "amazing vocabulary". "His favourite word was putrid," the family said. He loved the Beatles and would pick flowers from the park. Lacie loved dancing and was described as "a YouTube star in the making", while Lia was remembered for her "cheeky laugh and a smile that would melt your heart".
