Man jailed for causing Heysham gas explosion which killed two-year-old George Hinds
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Darren Greenham, 45, was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to George’s manslaughter.
Greenham cut a gas pipe in his own property with an angle grinder, planning to steal the pipework, and bypassed the meter to steal gas.
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Hide AdA police investigation found Greenham was intent on selling the cut pipes for scrap metal and had boasted to witnesses that he would make £400 to buy a car.
George was only two years and 10 months old when he died in the resulting explosion at his family home in Mallowdale Avenue in May 2021.
After the sentencing at Preston Crown Court, a police spokesman said: “Darren is a truly selfish and wicked man whose main motivation in the build-up to the fatal explosion was financial greed.
"His reckless actions caused the death of a completely innocent toddler and could easily have led to more deaths.
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Hide Ad“No sentence will ever make up for the loss of George’s life or reflect the pain and misery Darren has caused.
"No one should put their child to bed at night, a place of safety, and not be able to see them alive again.”
George’s father Stephen Hinds told the court on Tuesday: “By Darren Greenham cutting a gas pipe to make a few quid I have lost my son, my absolute world.”
He said Greenham, who was dependent on alcohol and drugs, made the lives of his neighbours a “misery”.
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Hide AdMr Hinds said: “It makes my blood boil now, I always did the right thing and reported it to the council and the police, nothing was ever done.”
In a statement, George’s mother Vicki Studholme said she felt “unsafe” in her home because of Greenham, a “neighbour from hell” who she said made threats of violence towards her, her husband and their son.
She said: “I do feel that although we reported this countless times we have been let down by the council and the police, and the death of my beautiful baby boy could have been avoided.”
She added: “After the explosion, being trapped in the rubble was the most scared I had ever been in my life.
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Hide Ad“This was until I arrived at the hospital to be told that George had died.
“Never, ever have I felt so scared as in that moment of my life.”
The court heard that the explosion at 2.36am destroyed the property Greenham lived in and severely damaged the two neighbouring terraced houses.
A total of 55 properties in the area were damaged.
Timothy Cray KC, prosecuting, said that at the time of the explosion the council was considering taking eviction proceedings after a number of complaints about Greenham’s behaviour.
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Hide AdHe said: “He had been removing every bit of pipework he could for weeks before, seemingly because he knew he was going and he wanted to make what he could from selling it as scrap.”
The court heard the gas meter in the property had been altered so Greenham could receive gas without paying for it.
A report from the Health and Safety Executive after the explosion found wooden floorboards had been removed and gas pipes had been cut deliberately.