The Crime

At 4.54am on December 11^th 2017 David Worrall threw a fire bomb into 8 Jackson Street, Walkden, Salford, Greater Manchester the property occupied by the Pearson family. This was immediately followed by a larger petrol bomb thrown into the property by Zak Bolland, both in a drink and drug fuelled rage, all due to a petty feud with Kyle Pearson a 16 year old occupant of the house along with his mother and siblings. The result of the fire-bombing?

 Lia Pearson aged 3, Life support switched off at 14:30 on Dec 13^th

 Lacie Pearson aged 7, Declared dead in hospital at 06:02 on Dec 11^th

 Brandon Pearson aged 8, Declared dead in hospital at 05:47 on Dec 11^th

 Demi Pearson aged 15, Declared dead at the scene at 07:10 on Dec 11^th

Michelle Pearson and her son Kyle escaped although she is severely injured.

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Bolland (23) and Worrall (26) were sentenced on 02^nd May 2018 to 40 and 37 years minimum terms respectively for murder and an accomplice, Bolland’s ex-girlfriend, Courtney Brierley (20) was sentenced to 21 years for manslaughter.

                                                                              

The Cost

On average it costs £65,000 to take a person through the legal system and to prison once all the legal, police and ancillary costs are taken into account. It then costs on average £40,000 a year to keep that person in prison. That is of course when a sentence is cut and dried and there are no extra appeal costs involved that can mount up and drag on for years.

So, based on the averages above, the three sentenced in this case, serving their full terms (as recommended in the cases of Bolland and Worrall) will cost:

Zak Bolland – £65,000 + £1,600,000 = £1,665,000

David Worrall – £65,000 + £1,480,000 = £1,545,000

Courtney Brierley – £65,000 + £840,000 = £905,000

Total taxpayer cost to keep them in prison = £4,115,000

Putting that into perspective and using the latest available average NHS costing figures, that would pay for 24,666 MRI scans, 16,165 ambulance call outs or 95,698 GP appointments. All have the capacity to save lives.

The Kick In The Teeth!

David Worrall and Courtney Brierley are apparently now considering appealing the convictions and length of their sentences! Worrall is trying to claim he never threw anything and believed he was only going to set fire to some wheelie bins but was under the influence of Bolland, so nothing but a poor sheep! Brierley is claiming that she only acted out of fear of Bolland who now seems to have been a violent and abusive boyfriend and was unaware of what they were going to do. Strange then that she was seen to urge both of the men to put up their hoods when buying petrol in an attempt to evade detection and then accompanied them in the car!

All of this was rejected by a jury of their peers! That surely says it all.

The Question

Bolland and Worrall, should they complete their sentences without mishap in prison, will be 63 years old when they leave prison and likely completely useless to society, costing no doubt more to the taxpayer in benefits and housing.

Where it is a case of clear cut guilt without the need for complicated time consuming DNA evidence and non-effective appeals is that not a better case for consideration of the death penalty?

It would be cost effective, no execution is going to cost the £3.5 million to keep these two fine specimens of humanity alive and could be spent saving lives.

Again, What Price the Death Sentence?