Arsonist jailed for life after ‘random’ fatal blaze

A ‘fire obsessed’ man who travelled 70 miles to set a “random” fire to a family home has been jailed after the blaze killed a pensioner. The court heard how evil arsonist Andrew Gorrell was wearing A Nightmare on Elm Street T-shirt when he trekked across the country from his home on the English-Welsh border to the Black Country to start a fatal fire on May 11 last year. The 55-year-old alcoholic set fire to a wheelie bin and then “deliberately” positioned it to “block”

the front door of a terraced home in Moway Buildings on Holyhead Road, Wednesbury, where a family of four slept. Inside the home was great-grandad, John Edwards, 82, his wife Doreen, as well as their adult sons, Carl and Mark. All four were rushed to hospital as firefighters battled the blaze, but John’s injuries were so severe he could not survive and he died two weeks later. Not only did killer Gorrell have no links to the area, but he also did not know his

victims, which has left detectives unable to establish a motive. But police discovered that as he set the deadly fire, he was wearing a top with the wording ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ – a horror film in which the main character, Freddy Krueger, was burnt alive. Gorrell denied one count of murder, two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent relating to Doreen and Mark, and one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent relating to Carl. He also denied

one count of arson with intent to endanger life but admitted an alternative count of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. Gorrell, from Saltney in Flintshire, was unanimously convicted of all charges in February after jurors deliberated for three hours and 27 minutes. The killer had admitted an alternative charge of manslaughter ahead of his trial but the plea was not accepted by the Crown. He also previously pleaded guilty to three counts of arson in relation to three separate bin fires

he set in Wednesbury in the hours after the fatal house fire – near the Lord Nelson pub, outside Amigos Pizza and in The Shambles. Today (Monday, July 6), Gorrell was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 25 years. Sentencing, Judge Michael Chambers KC said: “For anyone to wake up in the night to find their home is on fire is a living nightmare, but to find that it has been done deliberately is a horrendous crime.” The judge added: “I’m not satisfied

that there is much remorse or regret in relation to what happened. “It was clearly an evil and random crime, the reasons for which are not clear.” Judge Chambers said Gorrell has an ‘interest in fires’ but told the court there is ‘insufficient evidence’ for the Crown to say that he intended to cause really serious harm or death at the point when he left his home. The judge said: “It simply cannot be said that this was premeditated or planned. It is bizarre but

very serious.” But he went on to tell the defendant: “On setting the fire, you must have know that it was likely that the occupants of the house would be at home and to be asleep, this being the early hours of the morning.” In setting the fire in the wheelie bin and moving it to the front door, Judge Chambers said: “It made it likely that the house was going to catch fire particularly quickly, as it did, and it would quickly impede the

exit for those inside.” The court heard how Gorrell – who suffers with alcohol dependence syndrome – had previous convictions for arson dating back to 1990. Judge Chambers said the killer is a ‘highly dangerous individual’ but added that it was a matter for the Parole Board to assess his risk to the public. Prosecutor Rachel Brand KC said ‘all the evidence points to the lighting of the fire being an impulsive act’. She added: “His behaviour later in the morning, when he set fires

to bins in the town centre, are clearly impulsive acts.” Michael Duck KC, defending, said Gorrell wanted to issue an apology to the Edwards family through him. He said: “Tragically, in recent years, it seems that alcohol has taken its toll.” Mr Duck added: “This was a spontaneous act, in any view.” During the trial, jurors heard how a fire investigation ruled out any accidental cause of the blaze. It was established that the fire was started by the ‘ignition of the contents of the

wheelie bin’. Ms Brand previously said: “He set a fire in the middle of the night when people were asleep. “He moved the wheelie bin and deliberately positioned it outside the front door and where it would not only cause the fire to spread to the house but it would also block the exit of anyone inside the house. “He did not alert anyone to the fire. “What he did was walk away, leaving the fire to spread and engulf the front of the house

with the inevitable consequence, we say, that the people inside would be seriously injured. “He is a man of 54, he is not a child or silly teenager who would not be aware of the dangers of lighting a fire so close to a house. He is a mature man.” The trial heard how Carl, then 60, managed to ‘clamber’ out of a window before firefighters rescued Doreen, then 81, and his brother Mark, then 57.

Andrew Gorrell, life sentence, arson, Wednesbury, Moway Buildings, Holyhead Road, John Edwards, Doreen Edwards, Carl Edwards, Mark Edwards, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Rachel Brand KC, Michael Chambers KC