A "neighbour from hell" caused a huge gas explosion that killed a two-year-old boy after cutting a gas pipe to sell for scrap metal.
George Hinds died when Darren Greenham’s drink and drug fuelled late night DIY sent dangerous quantities of gas flowing into the home where he lived in Heysham, Lancashire. Experts said there would have been an obvious sound and smell of gas, the volume of which was so great only a light switch would have been needed to ignite it.
Tragically it did ignite and both Greenham’s house and the neighbouring homes either side were completely destroyed. Some 55 properties were damaged with six homes evacuated and some neighbours were forced to move out for more than a year.
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But most devastating of all, "beautiful" toddler, George, was killed in the explosion and his body had to be pulled from the wreckage. His heartbroken parents Vicky Studholme and Stephen Hinds said their world had been taken away in the blink of an eye.
Prosecuting, Timothy Kray explained that Greenham, 45, had been considered a "nightmare neighbour" for several years. Through a combination of loud music, late night hammering and drilling, and a rotating flurry of drunk and drugged up visitors he had plagued the lives of neighbours Martin and Alison Evans for five years, and the Hinds family since they arrived on the street in 2019.
He would also light frequent bonfires, fuelled with petrol, which grew out of control and was regularly abusive to those living next to him, Lancs Live reports. Shockingly, Stephen Hinds’ statement revealed this abuse extended to Greenham calling two-year-old George a “ginger, little c***”.
A long list of complaints was submitted to Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Constabulary, the former of which was finally beginning the process of eviction at the time of the explosion. Aware of that likely outcome, Greenham had begun stripping the property of any value and hoped to sell the house’s copper pipes to raise money to buy a car.
Greenham had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter, abstracting gas, and damaging the gas meter inside the property. Entering those, he submitted a basis of plea which stated: “I cut the gas pipes believing the gas supply was turned off. I accept by my recklessness I caused the explosion. At the time of the explosion, I was on drink and drugs having been dependent for years. I was the person who arranged for the gas to be diverted.”
Paul Marsh, 54, from Heysham also previously appeared in court but has since died of natural causes. The court heard that Marsh visited the home on that night and had also damaged the meter at his own property.
As George's dad Stephen approached the witness stand to deliver his statement, he placed on it at Paw Patrol pillow which was one of the few of his son's belongings which could be salvaged from the wreckage. He spoke of the pain of visiting him in the mortuary and reading a bed time story and the horror of having to say goodbye for the final time.
Defending, Peter Glenser KC said: "For the first time in many years, [Greenham] is sober and drug free. With that sobriety has come clarity and insight that he didn't have in all those years on drink and drugs. That clarity has allowed him to see for the first time what terrible harm he has caused.
Mr Glenser said that Greenham was genuinely sorry and wracked with guilt over his actions. He argued that despite the smell and noise of the gas leak, Greenham genuinely believed the supply was switched off, whether that be by himself or Marsh. Otherwise, he argued, he would not have remained inside his own property during the 20 to 42 minute which elapsed between the gas being cut and the explosion taking place.
Honorary Recorder Robert Altham will pass sentence later today (October 5).
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