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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Man guilty of girl's fire murder | Man guilty of girl's fire murder |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A man who killed a three-year-old girl by setting fire to her family home in Liverpool in a revenge attack has been convicted of murder. | A man who killed a three-year-old girl by setting fire to her family home in Liverpool in a revenge attack has been convicted of murder. |
| Francesca Bimpson was unable to escape the flames and suffered massive burns, Liverpool Crown Court was told. | Francesca Bimpson was unable to escape the flames and suffered massive burns, Liverpool Crown Court was told. |
| Graham Heaps, 44, started the fire because he was bitter at the break-up of his relationship with her aunt. | Graham Heaps, 44, started the fire because he was bitter at the break-up of his relationship with her aunt. |
| Heaps, of Woodside Terrace, Crumlin, south Wales, had denied murder. He will be sentenced on Tuesday. | Heaps, of Woodside Terrace, Crumlin, south Wales, had denied murder. He will be sentenced on Tuesday. |
| Heaps poured petrol though the letterbox of the house in the Everton area of the city just before Christmas 2008. | |
| No emotion | |
| Francesca was unable to escape the ensuing fire and suffered 85% burns. She died three weeks later in hospital. | |
| The jury of seven men and five women took two-and-a-half hours to reach their unanimous guilty verdict. | |
| The verdict was greeted by cheers and and, as Heaps was sent down, Francesca's mother, Eleanor Skelhorne, became distraught. | |
| She shouted at him: "That's wiped the smile off your face, hasn't it?" |