Family Fire Killer Jailed for 30 Years

A woman who began a fire which killed five members of a neighbouring family must serve a minimum of 30 years.

Mother-of-five Melanie Smith, 43, set Lee-Anna Shiers' pushchair alight in a row over a shared hallway. Ms Shiers, 20, her nephew Bailey, four, niece Skye, two, partner Liam Timbrell, 23, and son Charlie, 15 months, died after becoming trapped in an upstairs flat in Prestatyn, Denbighshire.

At Mold Crown Court Smith was given five life terms for the murders, reports the BBC.

Smith wept as the sentence was passed by the judge, Mr John Griffith Williams, who called her action "exceptional wickedness, almost unparalleled in its consequences".

The judge said the "root cause" of Smith's offending was hatred of another woman, Samantha Schofield. She was motivated by jealousy due to her faltering relationship with Stephen Clarkson, whom she claimed had cheated on her with Ms Schofield.

"That hatred, which was all the more intense because of your drink problem, took over your life," the judge said.

After the sentence, Timbrell's mother Stephanie Watson said: "This has been a long, painful road for the families and while nothing can ever bring back any of our children or grandchildren from this terrible tragedy, there is some comfort in knowing that justice has been done, although no sentence can ever reflect the severity of the crime."

Smith was convicted last week of the five murders and of threatening to burn Ms Schofield's home.

During her trial, the jury heard that Smith was in dispute with Ms Shiers because the young mother-of-one left her son's pushchair in the downstairs communal hallway at the property where they both lived in flats.