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West Malling house fire murder: Son-in-law guilty | West Malling house fire murder: Son-in-law guilty |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A man who killed his mother-in-law by deliberately setting fire to the family home has been found guilty of murder. | A man who killed his mother-in-law by deliberately setting fire to the family home has been found guilty of murder. |
Simon Childs, 52, started the blaze in West Malling, Kent, which killed 65-year-old Jackie Allen and injured another person. | |
He was also found guilty of attempted murder and will be sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday. | |
His estranged wife was not at the house in Spitfire Road at the time of the fire on 17 November. | |
Childs, of Hurricane Road in West Malling, was described in court as a "jealous and obsessive man with a history of erratic behaviour" after his marriage breakup. | |
In a statement, Mrs Allen's family said: "Jackie would have given her last breath for us and she did that night. | |
"Our whole world was taken from under us." | |
On the day of the fire Childs had threatened to set alight a caravan belonging to a man he suspected of having a relationship with his former partner. | |
He was also heard making threats to "burn the house down" and was responsible for dozens of abusive messages and phone calls, demanding to know her whereabouts. | |
Kent Police said he broke into the property at about 21:00 GMT and took petrol from a shed to start the fire. | |
Emergency services arrived to find Mrs Allen inside and she was later pronounced deceased in hospital. | |
Another person in the property was found in the garden having jumped to safety from a first-floor bedroom. | |
Officers found Childs shortly afterwards at a nearby address and he was arrested. | |
Det Ch Insp Patrick Milford said Childs' actions were "deliberate and calculated". | |
He added: "Local residents bravely tried to rescue the occupants from the house, but the fire was just too intense." |
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