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| Prestatyn family fire murders: Melanie Smith jailed for 30 years | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 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. | |
| The judge, Mr John Griffith Williams, said the "root cause" of her offending was jealous hatred of another woman, Samantha Schofield. | |
| Her called her action "exceptional wickedness, almost unparalleled in its consequences". | |
| Smith wept as the sentence was passed. The judge told her 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. | |
| 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. | |
| Smith had previously made threats that she would set Ms Shiers' house on fire "with you and [your] kids in it". | |
| On the day of the fire Smith drank 10 alcoholic drinks and set fire to the pushchair using a lighter. Ms Shiers and her family became trapped in their upstairs flat. | |
| 'Lovely bubbly girl' | |
| Neighbours in Maes y Groes made desperate attempts to rescue the family but were driven back by the fire's intensity and heat. | |
| After he was rescued, Mr Timbrell told a paramedic Smith was responsible. He later died in hospital. | |
| While giving evidence, Smith said she wanted to take a lie detector test and accused 21 witnesses who testified against her of lying. | |
| After the guilty verdicts were given on 30 April by the jury of seven women and five men, Ms Shiers' parents, Joy and Peter, said they were "overjoyed". | |
| Paying tribute to her family at the time, Mrs Shiers, 45, said: "Anna was such a lovely, bubbly girl and Liam a very caring dad. Both of them were heroes because we know they would have done everything to rescue the children. | |
| "The three kiddies loved each other, they played together all the time. | |
| "They were our angels. Really, really nice people that will be missed." | |
| Her defence counsel said there were two mitigating circumstances: her previous good history and no previous convictions for involvement with fire. There was also no evidence of premeditation. | |
| Her defence said there was no compelling evidence that Smith was aware Skye and Bailey Allen were in the flat the night of the fire. | |
| After sentencing, Karen Dixon from the Crown Prosecution Service said Smith's actions were carried out with "no regard whatsoever for the consequences". | |
| "At no stage has she chosen to take responsibility for those five lives so tragically lost because of her actions," she said. | |
| "Today's sentencing at least ensures she has to face up to that responsibility in a criminal court." |