Youths killed pensioner in firework attack then ran away laughing

Telegraph

13-05-2025

A widower died in a house fire started by two teenagers who let off a firework inside his home before running away laughing, a court heard.
In the years leading up to the attack, Robert Price, 76, had been the target of a campaign of harassment and criminal damage, prosecutors say.
Nathan Otitodilchukwu, 18, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named, threatened to 'torch' the pensioner before punching a hole in his window and pushing a firework into his home, the Old Bailey heard. They have both admitted to his manslaughter.
Catherine Farrelly KC told their sentencing hearing that the terraced home in Dagenham, east London, quickly caught fire in July 2024, with black smoke filling the house before Price could be saved.
'Robert Price was killed in a fire which was started at his home address by the two defendants who smashed a window at his property and threw a firework inside,' she told the court.
'Kids would disturb him'
John Shoesmith, who had been friends with Price for 10 years, said he would never leave his house because 'kids would disturb him', Ms Farrelly said.
Mr Shoesmith described him as socially awkward, and said his lack of social skills and poor hearing meant some people found him 'hard to get along with'.
The harassment included acts of criminal damage to his house, the court heard.
According to Mr Shoesmith, Price's windows were regularly smashed by a number of the local children, to the point that he had his downstairs windows boarded up.
'Make his life hell'
'In Mr Shoesmith's words, this would happen all the time and they would make his life hell,' Ms Farrelly said.
The most recent incident of criminal damage had occurred three days before Price's death, when a brick had been put through his window, the court heard.
CCTV footage from the day of the fire showed that in the hours before the attack, Otitodilchukwu, who was living in care, met up with the 16-year-old boy.
They filmed themselves launching a firework into a lake, the court was told.
At about 5.30pm, they walked towards Price's house with the 16-year-old holding what was believed to be a firework, Ms Farrelly said.
Doorbell footage showed Price open the door slightly and say something, before the 16-year-old ran away shouting 'he saw me fam' as the youths aborted their attack.
A short time later, they walked back towards the house, with doorbell footage capturing him saying, 'come with me, come with me' and then 'gonna f------ torch this n----', the court heard.
The duo ran into the front garden of the house before the 16-year-old stepped on the gas meter box, reached above the boarded-up section of the window and punched a hole, the court was told.
'He appears to light something and then put something through the hole in the window, before jumping off the gas box, and running way with the others,' Ms Farrelly said.
A neighbour's ring doorbell footage 'captured someone shouting, 'f------ d---head' and 'run run run', she added.
'A loud bang can be heard, followed by high-pitched laughing as the group run away,' she said.
A few minutes later, smoke could be seen coming out of the window, before flames and black smoke engulfed the room, the court heard.
A neighbour who had seen the flames knocked on the door and briefly spoke to Price, but his 'responses became less clear', the court was told.
The neighbour tried to get into the house to rescue Price, but the door was locked, Ms Farrelly said.
Firefighters were later able to get inside and put out the fire, but Price could not be saved.
'I'm going to do 20 years in jail'
When Otitodilchukwu, of Romford, returned to his care home that evening, he spoke to a support worker and said, 'I'm going to do 20 years in jail' and 'don't check for news about what happened in Dagenham', the court heard.
A little later he also told his support worker: 'I was drinking with my friends on Saturday and we were shooting fireworks.'
A few days later, he asked a woman if she had heard about the fire, before telling her, 'If anyone asks, don't say I was in Dagenham,' the court was told.
When asked why, he said: 'Maybe I started the fire with a firework.'
He went on to say that he was drunk with two of his friends, that he had put a firework through a letter box and that it was funny.
Otitodilchukwu was arrested the same day and the 16-year-old was arrested the following month.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Price's family said he was a 'kind' and 'generous' man, and described the 'suffering' that he must have endured.
The sentencing is expected to conclude in June.