Fire starter did not intend to kill, jury told

A lawyer acting for one of two men accused over a fatal arson attack on a family home has claimed whoever started the fire did not intend to kill or endanger life.

Mark Fenhalls KC, representing Daniel Tatters, 26, also suggested a lighter bearing his client's DNA may have been deliberately dropped at the scene of the blaze in Plascom Road, East Park, Wolverhampton, last June.

Prosecutors allege Mr Tatters, of no fixed address, and Dale Francis, 37, of Clare Street in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent are guilty of Akashdeep Singh's murder, which they both deny.

Mr Singh, 26, died in hospital after a hooded figure smashed a bay window and used a container of flammable liquid to start the fire.

Jurors have been shown CCTV footage of the hooded figure - referred to as Profile 1 - setting the blaze, and have been asked to consider whether the house was targeted by mistake, as the Singh family can think of no reason why anybody would have a grievance against them.

In his closing speech to Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mr Fenhalls told jurors: "On Monday, Daniel Tatters went into the witness box over there and told you that he had never been to Wolverhampton.

"He said he had nothing to do with the events in Plascom Road. He then went on to answer all the questions I asked him and all the questions the prosecution asked him."

Disputing the Crown's assertion Mr Tatters was Profile 1 and had intended to kill or cause really serious injury, Mr Fenhalls asked: "Why on earth would Daniel Tatters be there at all? What reason is there for him to participate?

"Whoever Profile 1 was, Profile 1 set a fire in that house - that is beyond doubt. The issue [for the jury] is, 'What does the evidence show you of what we can be sure Profile 1 was thinking, whoever he or she was?'."

Mr Fenhalls suggested the "last thing in the world" someone intending to kill or endanger life would do would be to "alert your targets" by waking them up with the loud banging caused by breaking the front window.

Suggesting Profile 1 was not trying to endanger life, the defence lawyer said of the noise of the window being repeatedly struck: "It's almost like banging a drum, isn't it?

"That noise, we suggest, is a critical feature of this case. It suggests, doesn't it, that Profile 1 had no idea that anybody was in that house."

Turning to other evidence, Mr Fenhalls said Mr Tatters was not trying to claim he had never touched a lighter found at the scene, or claiming that it was not his.

The court has heard Mr Tatters' DNA and that of four other people were found on the lighter, with one possible explanation being that he had handled it at some stage.

Mr Fenhalls said: "That is very far from being, 'Oh golly, Danny Tatters's lighter is there - he must be Profile 1'.

"Is it realistic... that the person who had the role of setting the fire would have somehow inadvertently dropped his own lighter?

"It is, we suggest, far more likely that the lighter was dropped deliberately."

Mr Francis, who accepts that he drove Profile 1 to a road close to the scene, opted not to give evidence to the jury.

As well as denying the murder of Mr Singh, the defendants also pleaded not guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, and the attempted murder of other family members.

Mr Francis's counsel, Rebecca Wade KC, urged jurors to consider whether the facts of the case drove them to conclude the "secondary party" intended to kill or to scare the occupants of the property.

The court has heard Mr Francis submitted a written statement saying he had no prior knowledge "that this other guy was going to torch the house" and no intention of causing serious harm to anyone.

The statement added: "He asked me to take someone to Wolverhampton to burn out a car on the drive. I was simply asked to take someone and act as the lookout."

In her closing speech, Ms Wade said of the statement: "It was him telling the police from the moment he was charged that he wasn't involved in the murder - denials which have been maintained ever since."

The jury in the case is expected to retire on Thursday.

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