A woman who was left fighting for her life after a fire that claimed the lives of her four children has died.
Michelle Pearson sustained horrific injuries in a fire which claimed the lives of her children, Demi Pearson, 15, her brother, Brandon, aged eight, and sisters, Lacie, aged seven, and Lia, aged three.
She was so ill that she could not attend their funerals.
Since then, Pearson had made some progress in recovering but her health reportedly started to deteriorate in June.
Breaking the news on Facebook on Monday, Pearson’s mother Sandra Lever said: “Sadly last night, after a hard 20 months of fighting, our beautiful Michelle gained her wings and went to join her babies”.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “Yesterday, we were made aware that Michelle Pearson, who was seriously injured in a house fire in Walkden in 2017, passed away.
“As the Senior Investigating Officer for the investigation into the fire, I know first-hand how devastating the death of her four children was for Michelle and the news of her passing is incredibly tragic.
“I would like to extend my sincere condolences to Michelle’s loved ones at this terrible time. We will ensure that they receive any support they need from the investigation team as they come to terms with their loss.”
Police were called to Pearson’s three bedroom mid-terraced house in Walkden, Greater Manchester, shortly before 5am on 11 December 2017 to reports of a fire.
Two men were given four life sentences each for murdering the four children in May 2018.
Zak Bolland and David Worrall were told they would serve a minimum of 40 and 37 years respectively for the petrol bomb attack on Pearson’s home.
Courtney Brierley, 20, who was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter was sentenced to 21 years in jail.
The court heard how Bolland and Worrall were fuelled by drink and drugs as they filled two glass bottles with £1.50 of petrol bought from a local garage, stuffing the tops with tissue paper as they prepared the attack at around 5am.
After the kitchen window of Pearson’s home was put through, two lit petrol bombs were thrown inside.
Bolland hurled his bottle which “exploded” near the stairs, blocking the only exit to the ground floor and trapping the victims upstairs.
Within seconds flames engulfed the premises.
Pearson, 36, woke up and screamed: “Not the kids! Not my kids!” and dialled 999, but she was overcome with heat and smoke before completing the call.
Pearson’s son Kyle, 17, had been involved in a “petty” feud with Bolland over damage to the defendant’s £200 car, prompting a series of tit-for-tat attacks.
Kyle managed to escape with a friend, Bobby Harris.
The mother begged to be moved to a safe house days before the attack, family members said at the time.
Claire Pearson, Michelle’s sister, said: “Michelle’s been unsafe in that property for months and months and the police was aware of this, and the social services was aware of this, the council was aware of this, and I’m sorry to say this but … they’ve let her down, and my sister and her kids would have had a chance of survival if they did their job properly.”
The children’s grandfather, Mike Pearson, added: “She said she’d actually been to the housing that week and begged them to move her to a safe house or get her out of the area … they just refused – ‘you’re not at risk, you’re not in danger’.”
Speaking on the recently cancelled Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV in October last year, Sandra described harrowing details of the moments she told her daughter that her children had died.
She said Michelle ‘kept forgetting and forgetting’ after she first broke the news to her in hospital, adding that it “lasted for about six weeks before it sunk in to her”.