Heysham fire: Student who murdered grandmother jailedon November 12, 2021 at 11:41 am

A “composed and calculating” student who murdered his step-grandmother in a house fire has been jailed for life.

Mary Gregory, 94, died from smoke inhalation following a blaze at her home in Heysham, Lancashire, in 2018.

Her death was treated as an accident until Tiernan Darnton, 21, who had confessed to the killing in a game of truth or dare, made a similar confession during counselling in 2019.

Darnton was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 15 years.

He had denied murder but was convicted by a jury on Thursday at Preston Crown Court.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge said she rejected the notion that it had been “an act of mercy” by Darnton, who was 17 at the time.

“No-one could seriously think that trapping an elderly woman in a burning building was an act of mercy,” Mrs Justice Yip said.

“Murder had been on your mind for some time… You were fascinated by serial killers and their crimes. You had dark thoughts.”

She added that he had been “composed and calculating” when giving “untruthful evidence” to the jury.

The court also heard that “disturbing material,” which was not presented to the jury during the trial, had also been found in Darnton’s possession, including plans to stalk and attack women and a “kill list” with people’s names on.

The jury was told an initial investigation had concluded that Mrs Gregory, who was a heavy smoker and had dementia, had died in an accidental fire on 28 May 2018.

However, police reopened the case in May 2019 after Darnton told a counsellor he had killed his stepfather’s mother by using a lighter to set a curtain on fire at the house in Levens Drive.

The court heard Darnton had also confessed several weeks after Mrs Gregory’s death, during a game of truth or dare with two friends in which he revealed his “darkest secret”.

Darnton had said he disabled a fire alarm and started the blaze because he did not want Mrs Gregory to suffer any longer from dementia, the court heard.

The jury was shown detailed drawings found at Darnton’s home which outlined the floorplan of his step-grandmother’s home.

They contained labels including “good hiding place” and “quick exit” and references for needing a “good alibi”.

Detectives found searches on his mobile phone and computer from June 2018 which read “murderer filled with despair” and “I’m a monster and I’m going to hell”.

Victoria Agulló, senior crown prosecutor at CPS, said Darnton had deliberately started the fire in his step-grandmother’s house and then “took steps to prevent her from calling for help and escaping”.

“I cannot begin to imagine the devastation this has caused to the family, losing their beloved relative in this way,” she said.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk