Boy tried to kill family in order to be adopted by rich couple

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy set fire to his home to wipe out his family so he could be adopted by a rich couple, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

He battered his 12-year-old brother over the head with a shovel and axe and then set fire to the house, it was alleged.

After burying the axe and a bag full of incriminating items, he fled to a friend’s house and claimed a man with a gun had forced him to do it, said Sir Allan Green, QC, prosecuting.