Posted on 01/10/2006 4:14:09 AM PST by Stoat
A 14-YEAR-OLD boy set fire to his home to wipe out his family so that he could be adopted by a rich couple, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.
The boy battered his 12-year-old brother over the head with a shovel and axe and then set fire to the house, it was alleged. The blaze killed his younger sister.
The court was told the boy smashed the fire alarms in the house before setting alight a pile of laundry and paper stuffed behind the TV, using his father's lighter.
After burying the axe and a bag full of incriminating items, he fled to a friend's house and claimed a man with a gun had forced him to do it, prosecutor Sir Allan Green, QC, told the London court.
The court heard the boy's parents had managed to escape the "intense" fire by climbing down a rescue ladder. His 16-year-old sister also managed to escape by climbing out of her bedroom window.
But his other sister, aged 11, was unable to escape and was later found to have died from smoke inhalation.
One firefighter described the blaze in the mid-terraced house in south London as the "most intense" she had seen in 17 years of service, the court heard.
The 12-year-old brother was found with serious head injuries in the loft-room the two boys shared. But Sir Allan told the court that the boy had survived the attack and the fire. The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described himself as a Goth and had written a "chilling" list of things to do a few weeks earlier, it was alleged.
The court heard it was found under his bed following the fire in April 2004. It read: "Operation new life. Kill family. Lose memory. Get adopted by a rich couple."
Sir Allan told the court another sheet of paper had "factors that could get me caught" written on it and listed "sperm, fingerprints, the axe, clothes, hair," while another listed "things to be buried".
And it was alleged that another sheet of paper dated weeks before the alleged incident had a list that read: "Cut myself to make it look like a demon had done it, run to Sophie's house, collapse in hallway and lose memory."
Sir Allan said: "His various accounts that an intruder tried to kill his brother and set fire to the family home were quite untrue. He was to admit to various doctors who interviewed him that he had acted alone in what he did. Why did he do it? Under his bed sometime after the police had questioned him, police found some documents that provided a rather chilling explanation of what occurred."
Sir Allan said many of the facts were not in dispute but the jury would hear expert evidence to decide whether the boy's responsibility was diminished.
When police arrived, he allegedly asked them: "Has anyone died? If anyone is going to die, it's my little sister. She's asthmatic. I hope my brother's all right because we are really close."
Sir Allan added: "He said not everyone liked him at school because he did well academically and he was a Goth."
The boy is charged with murder, attempted murder and arson. The trial continues.
The state just adopted him. They are rich. They will take care of him for life.
The Devil and all his works.
... lists detailing my plans....
After this, people will be lining up to adopt him.
He can throw himself on the mercy of the court and plead that, after all, he is an orphan.
This boy is like a rabid dog and needs to put down as such.
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