School bullying row 'led to murder'

A woman and her husband were murdered in an arson attack on their home over a school bullying row involving their daughter, a court heard today.

Maureen Cochrane’s desperate 999 call was read out to the jury at Manchester Crown Court as she, her husband Alex (aged 54), and their daughter Lucy (aged16), were engulfed in flames.

Lucy’s parents were both killed and Lucy was left fighting for her life after being rescued by firemen from the family home in Warmley Road, Brooklands, south Manchester in January this year.

The arson attack was launched by Michael Connor (aged 40), the jury was told, whose daughter, Natalie, then 17, had fallen out with Lucy when they were both pupils at Newall Green School last year.

Connor had been urged on by his estranged wife, Jane, 40, and his daughter, after playground rows between the two girls developed into a “campaign of harassment” by the Connors aimed at Lucy and her family, the court heard.

The “Connor clan” had come to “hate” the Cochrane family and developed an “obsessive pursuit of some imagined slight” and were all part of the plot to torch the house, Alistair Webster QC, prosecuting, told the court.

At around 12.30am in the early hours of January 12, Michael Connor went to the victims’ home, poured petrol through the letterbox and lit the fire, he said.

Seconds later the hallway of the two-up, two-down terrace was engulfed in flames. Forensic experts estimated temperatures in the house reached 1000 degrees C in two minutes, Mr Webster QC said.

Lucy was trapped in the back bedroom, Mr Cochrane was trapped in an upstairs bedroom, while his wife, a craft shop worker, made her desperate call to the emergency services.

Reading the transcript of the call, Mr Webster spoke Mrs Cochrane’s words as they were recorded.

“Somebody set the front door on fire and we can’t get out,” he said.

“Can you hurry up ... overcome by fumes. Please just come.”

When firemen arrived Mrs Cochrane, 45, was already dead. Her husband, a baggage handler at Manchester Airport, was carried out but died later in hospital. Lucy was hauled unconscious from the blaze and survived.

Mr Webster QC added: “What had led to the Connors plotting and then setting this fire? You will hear that it was the culmination as what can fairly be seen as a campaign of harassment of Lucy and her family by, in particular, Natalie, and her mother Jane.”

He said the bullying at school started with insults and escalated until Lucy was arrested by police over an “entirely false allegation” of assault by Natalie.

During the campaign of harassment the Cochrane’s car was damaged, and a tree was uprooted in the Cochrane family garden.

Only five days before the fatal fire, liquid was poured on the front door of their home. It was reported to the police but no officer ever tested the liquid.

Mr Webster QC said: “Given that the fatal fire took place just five days later, what took place that morning seems to be particularly sinister – a harbinger of future tragedy – and it is extremely sad that it did not prove possible to take action in that intervening period.”

The court was shown CCTV stills from a supermarket taken the day before the fire, and a till receipt showing the three defendants bought a petrol can.

Mr Webster said: “What did the three of them want a petrol can for? None of them own a car.”

Michael Connor then bought £3-worth of petrol from the Tesco service station, Mr Webster said.

He went on: “The Crown says that given the hatred which the women clearly felt for the Cochranes and given the use to which the petrol was later put, it was quite clear that they had incited Michael Connor into a plan to set their victims’ house on fire.”

Michael Connor of Hall Street, Offerton, Stockport, Jane Connor and Natalie Connor, of Wellfield Road, Brooklands, each deny two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder of Lucy and a single count of grievous bodily harm with intent towards Lucy.

Jane Connor and her daughter also both deny two counts of manslaughter, and a single count of arson.

Jane Connor’s mother, Margaret Robinson, 66, yesterday admitted a single charge of perverting the course of justice.

The case before Judge David Maddison is expected to last four weeks.