Man started fatal house fire 'utterly randomly'

A man who started a house fire which led to the death of an elderly man had targeted the home "utterly randomly", a court heard.

Andrew Gorrell, 54, was wearing a horror film T-shirt in which the central character was burned alive when he set fire to a wheelie bin outside the Wednesbury home in the West Midlands in the early hours of 11 May.

John Edwards, 82, and three others were seriously injured after the blaze on Holyhead Road and Edwards died from his injuries on 25 May.

Gorrell, from Saltney in Flintshire, had admitted a charge of manslaughter but denied murdering Edwards.

The 54-year-old had no known links to the Edwards family, their house or the Wednesbury area, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The fire, which was started in a wheelie bin that had allegedly been moved to block the front door of the property, "engulfed" the home and left John Edwards with severe injuries which he later died from in hospital.

His wife Doreen, 81, and their two adult sons Carl, 60, and Mark, 57, were all hurt in the fire and taken to hospital.

The court heard Gorrell had allegedly traveled from Wales and was first captured on CCTV at the Wolverhampton Central tram terminus at about 00:40 BST on 11 May before he got a tram to Wednesbury Parkway, arriving just before 01:00 BST.

He was told to move by staff after being seen loitering outside a care home on Holyhead Road and was also seen near a school before he moved on to the Edwards' family home.

"It appears the defendant targeted [the address] utterly randomly," prosecution counsel Rachel Brand KC said.

"We don't know why he came down to the West Midlands on that night in May of last year and we don't know why he was wandering around Wednesbury in the middle of the night.

"We don't know why he decided to set a fire at the home of the Edwards family."

Gorrell also denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Doreen and Mark Edwards and attempting to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Carl Edwards.

He also denied a charge of arson with intent to endanger life but admitted an alternative charge of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered.

The 54-year-old also admitted three counts of arson over three separate fires he set in Wednesbury in the hours after the fatal house blaze - in a bin near a pub, a commercial waste bin outside a pizza takeaway and a council waste bin.

Brand said Gorrell was wearing a Nightmare on Elm Street T-shirt when he set a fire outside the home.

She told the court: "Some of you may know that film but for those that don't, I'm told it's a film where one of the central characters was burnt to death in a fire."

The court heard a 999 call was made by a neighbour at 03:06 BST and by the time the fire service arrived at 03:14, the bin fire had spread to the house and into the hallway.

Investigators ruled out any accidental causes of the blaze and concluded it was started when the contents of the wheelie bin were set on fire.

Brand told the court that the circumstances showed the defendant "intended that people would be seriously hurt".

"He set a fire in the middle of the night when people were asleep. He moved the wheelie bin and deliberately positioned it outside the front door where it would cause the fire to spread, but also block the exit of anyone inside the house," she said.

"It was his choice to set a fire in a bin next to a house where people were asleep as opposed to setting a fire in an empty factory or an empty shop."

The trial continues.

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