A drug dealer has been jailed for life after ordering a house fire which killed an elderly couple. Eric Greener, 77, and Sheila Jackson, 83, died following an arson attack at their home on South John Street in St Helens on July 15 last year.
While one of the men responsible for the blaze, Paul Smith, was found dead himself only a week later, Kevin Weetman, Kylie Maynard and Lee Owens have been on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of murdering the pensioners. The latter admitted having acted as a lookout as the fire was set, although his co-defendants denied having any involvement in the plot.
With Sheila’s son George Jackson, who also lived at the address, was said to have been the intended victim in a row over drugs, Owens instead claimed Smith had torched the house as a result of a personal dispute between the two men. This was said to have related to his belief his target had “taken the p***” when Maynard, who the arsonist had reportedly been involved with sexually, had stayed at his house after being “taxed” of cocaine and money.
Although Owens pleaded guilty to manslaughter in advance of the trial, he maintained he believed the property was empty at the time of the incident and claimed he did not intend to injure or kill. He, Maynard and Weetman were all cleared of two counts of murder by a jury of six men and six women earlier this week, although the latter two were unanimously convicted of manslaughter.
Returning to the same court for sentence today, Thursday, Weetman was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years behind bars. Maynard meanwhile received 23 years and Owens was jailed for 13-and-a-half years, with both required to serve two thirds of their terms behind bars before they can be released.
Sentencing, High Court judge Mr Justice Jay told Weetman: “In your sordid and brutal way, you have been a successful drug dealer over many years. You exert your rule with fists and iron bars. You have an appalling criminal record.
“You are a man with an entirely warped moral code. You feel no remorse for what you did. After the verdict, you smiled and laughed inappropriately in full sight of the victims’ family.
“The issue of your intent is not straightforward. The lies you told during the trial have added to the difficulty. I infer that your intention was to burn out George Jackson as a punishment for him not doing your bidding.
“I cannot be sure that it was your aim to cause at least serious harm. You knew that two elderly people were almost certainly in bed at the time. I have no doubt that this is an extreme case of you procuring an act which you knew had high risk of death or serious harm. Although I am not satisfied that you had murderous intent, I am sure that this is also an extreme case of an intention falling just short of that.
“This arson was entirely your idea. You initiated Paul Smith into committing it, having brutally assaulted him. You knew that Kyle Maynard would act as your loyal subordinate in making the arrangements. I do not conclude that you anticipated that Paul Smith would recruit Lee Owens to this enterprise but, through your malevolence, you involved two others, Paul Smith and Kylie Maynard, in this wicked scheme.
“That you were prepared to use arson as a weapon against George Jackson when, on any view, he had done you no wrong demonstrates that you are a risk to the public by virtue of committing further specified offences. These two manslaughter offences are of the highest degree of seriousness.
“In my judgement, you are an extremely violent and dangerous individual. No reliable assessment can be made as to the length of time that you will still be a danger to the public. It is possible that prison will soften and reform you. It is more likely that you will remain a danger for the rest of your life, at least until your old age.”
Weetman smiled as he was told he would received a life imprisonment, with cries of “yes” heard among Eric and Sheila’s family and one man seen giving him two thumbs down. Another then told him as he was led to the cells: “I bet you’re not laughing now Weetman.”
However, Weetman responded “I’m always laughing”. When another man added “see you rat”, the killer went on to reply: “Wool.”
Kevin Weetman was found guilty of the manslaughter of Eric Greener and Sheila Jackson(Image: Merseyside Police)
Nigel Power KC previously told the jury during the prosecution’s opening last month: “At about just after half past midnight on Tuesday the 15th of July last year, Paul Smith and Lee Owens set fire to a house, 44 South John Street in St Helens. Inside the address at that time were Mary Sheila Jackson, known to all as Sheila, and her partner Peter Eric Greener, known to everybody as Eric.
“The alarm went up. Firefighters and paramedics went to the scene. They were able to rescue Eric and Sheila from the blaze, but they were unable to recover from the injuries they sustained in the fire and died within days.
“While it does not matter in law, Eric and Sheila were not the intended victims of the blaze. About a month earlier, Kevin Weetman and Kylie Maynard had attempted to trick George Jackson, Sheila’s son, into working for Mr Weetman as a drug dealer.
“Mr Jackson had helped out Ms Maynard when she had been robbed of drugs, sometimes called a taxing, by some other people. He had taken her home, his home being the same as Sheila and Eric. He had allowed her to wash, eat and sleep and stay there. She knew exactly where he lived, and who he lived with.
“A few days later, Mr Weetman gave Mr Jackson half an ounce of cocaine, wholesale worth between £400 and £700, but, on an individual wrap basis, quite a lot more. Initially, Mr Weetman said that it was a gift for helping out Ms Maynard.
“But he offered Mr Jackson the chance to deal drugs for him. Mr Jackson declined the offer and thought nothing of it until some time later, when Mr Weetman again contacted him and asked him to work for him.
“And, when Mr Jackson declined once more, the mood changed. What had been a gift or reward ceased to be so, and Mr Weetman started asking where his ‘dough’ was for the drugs.
“While there was, on the face of it, no threat made, the crown say that Mr Weetman decided to take action to prevent a loss of face. Face is all important in the drugs world, and he set in motion a plan to kill, or at least cause really serious harm to, George Jackson by setting fire to his house in the middle of night. Whilst Paul Smith and Lee Owens failed to kill Mr Jackson, the fire that they set caused the deaths of Eric and Shelia.
Lee Owens admitted the manslaughter of Eric Greener and Sheila Jackson(Image: Merseyside Police)
“Paul Smith and Lee Owens were the people responsible for setting fire to the house. What is also not in issue is that Kevin Weetman and Kylie Maynard, together, were involved in dealing drugs.
“Why isn’t Paul Smith in the dock? Well, he died shortly after the fire, but no one in the case disputes that he was one of the two people who went on a motorbike to set fire to the house.
“What is in issue is that Lee Owens says that he only intended damage to the building from the fire and nothing else. Kevin Weetman and Kylie Maynard deny that they had anything to do with the setting of the fire and the deaths of Eric and Sheila.”
When asked by his barrister Mr Wright during his evidence whether he had tried to “trick” Mr Jackson into working for him as a drug dealer, Weetman said: “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of anyone getting tricked into selling drugs for someone. That doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t. If they didn’t want to sell drugs, they’d just say no.”
Mr Power later put to him in cross-examination that Smith was “under his control”, to which Weetman, of Croxteth Drive in Aigburth, replied “no, Paul was a piece of s***, I didn’t like him”. With the prosecution silk having responded that he was “the sort of disposable piece of s*** employed to do your work”, the 34-year-old added: “I’m a drug dealer, not a killer. I don’t set fire to people’s houses. I don’t go to where old people live and I don’t go to people’s houses.”
When Mr Power put to him that he was using his admissions of dealing drugs to cover for his involvement in the murder, Weetman said: “I’m not getting framed for two murders. I’m admitting what I’ve done, that’s drug dealing. I’m going to get big time for it. It’s my third time. I’ve never murdered no one before and I’ve never asked no one to light fires for me.”
Weetman was also asked about an audio recording in which he was captured threatening to “burn out” Mr Jackson and his mum around a month prior to the fatal fire, but said of this: “It was just bravado. I don’t burn people’s houses. Especially with old people in. [I was] just chatting s***, as you do, just giving it the biftas, just looking the big man. I was just chatting s*** on a rant.”
In mitigation, Mr Wright told the court: “[Weetman] was 33 at the time with the most unenviable history of convictions and criminal lifestyle. It was plain when he gave evidence that he was utterly unrepentant. I cannot seek in any way to understate what was the evidence in that regard.
“He is one of four siblings, the remaining three having led and continued to lead wholly respectable, law-abiding lives in stark contrast to him, their brother. Now he comes before the court having been convicted by the jury of these most serious offences and must fall to be sentenced for them.”
Mr Wright said Weetman had provided a letter to the court where he expressed “profound insight…into his offending generally and also a need to rehabilitate and reform”. But the judge replied: “Remorse expressed just moments before sentence is to be passed is too late.”
Weetman’s lawyer told the court that his client’s motivation for the fire attack was “instilling of terror as opposed to the murderous intent that is required in order to have potentially convicted him of the greater offence”. He added: “The intention was to terrorise with the foresight of the consequences. In the context of this case, that is very close to reckless conduct, as opposed to the mens rea of the offence of murder.”
Maynard, of Rydal Street in Everton, meanwhile denied having “passed on instructions from Kevin Weetman about setting the fire” to Smith and Owens. Her counsel Peter Finnegan KC told the court: “The first point that has to be made is that she has no relevant previous convictions or recent convictions. In many respects it is quite unusual for somebody to come from this background, involved in this type of drugs world, who hasn’t had a series, a whole raft of criminal convictions, usually involving dishonesty, drug offending, often violence.
“Not her. She hasn’t had any type of that offending. I understand from her that she fell pregnant when still a teenager. The man that she was with, she didn’t remain with. She met another man who was violent to her to the point that her children were taken into care. I think by now she has had three children. Those children were taken into care. That partner, the father of two of her children, she found him, he having committed suicide.
“It was at this time in her life that she turned to drugs. Sadly for her, she said her brother also committed suicide. She has had a hard life in that regard. In the context of a case such as this, where all sympathy must go to the family of the deceased, I simply mention it so your Lordship knows some of the background which caused her to make some very poor decisions.
“I would submit she played in the drugs conspiracy a lesser or subordinate role. Given her character, her background, there were vulnerabilities there which were open to exploitation. Her background has brought her to this path. Her vulnerabilities we say have doubtless been exploited and she finds herself now facing a long prison sentence.”
During his evidence, Owens was asked by defence counsel Michael Brady KC “how he felt about the fact he is partly responsible for the unlawful deaths of Sheila and Eric”. The 46-year-old, of no fixed address, told the court: “Absolutely devastated, heartbroken. Two innocent old people have died. I just wish I could turn back time. Just devastated over what happened. I wish I could just turn it back.”
Mr Brady told the sentencing hearing: “I’m mindful of the fact that Mr Owens has expressed remorse in the course of evidence during his trial. I’m mindful of how that may be received. There is a huge amount of self interest from Mr Owens to say that.
“But, leaving aside such scepticism, we do ask the court to accept that his remorse, if not terribly eloquently expressed, was genuine. It appeared a little late in the day. We respectfully submit that it is best expressed through the guilty pleas that were entered. Of course, he could have made such expressions at an earlier stage, but any such consideration perhaps reflects more upon his shortcomings and inadequacies than any lack of real remorse.”
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