A mother has described the moment she realised both her husband and eight-year-old daughter had died as they tried to escape an alleged arson attack on their home.
Sara Broadhead, 35, told how she saw her daughter Kiera’s arm move as she was carried from the burning house by firefighters and thought she has survived.
Mrs Broadhead also spoke of the moment she heard her husband and daughter ‘coughing and screaming’ behind her but ‘knew’ they had died after ‘it all went quiet’.
But she was soon told her daughter had not survived as she was laid out on grass outside their blazing home in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, a court heard.
Sara Broadhead, back right, pictured on her wedding day with husband Andrew, back left, and daughters Mia, front left, and Kiera, front right, has told a court of the awful moment she realised her spouse and youngest daughter had died in a blaze in their home
Mr Broadhead, left, died trying to save Kiera, right, and Mrs Broadhead said she heard him coughing and Kiera screaming until ‘it all went quiet’
Mrs Broadhead and her elder daughter Mia, 13, survived after being helped to escape the blaze by neighbours.
A jury at Leeds Crown Court was read a statement on behalf of the bereaved mother whose husband, Andrew Broadhead, 42, died trying to save Kiera.
In a statement read out to the court by prosecutor Jonathan Sharp, Mrs Broadhead described being woken by a loud bang as she was in bed with her husband in the early hours October 19 last year.
She looked over the banister and saw flames surrounding the front door.
Mrs Broadhead said: ‘I started shouting “fire, fire, we need to get out.”
‘Andy and I were in a panic, bumping into each other on the landing.’
Mrs Broadhead described how she went to Mia’s bedroom and told her to climb out of the window while her husband went to get Kiera.
Mrs Broadhead and Mia then climbed out on to the roof of a utility room.
She said: ‘I could hear Andy coughing and Kiera screaming but when I dropped down onto the flat roof they weren’t behind me.’
The statement continued: ‘It all went quiet and I just knew.’
Mrs Broadhead and elder daughter Mia, 13, pictured left outside their West Yorkshire home, survived after being helped outside by neighbours. Mia wrote a beautiful tribute note to her lost father and sister begging them to come back
Jurors were also told how Mrs Broadhead’s worst fears were confirmed when emergency services arrived.
The statement continued: ‘The fire brigade came and they managed to get inside.
‘Eventually I saw Kiera being carried out and as they were bringing her down I saw her arm move and my heart jumped.
‘She was laid on the grass but then I realised that she hadn’t made it.
‘I was standing there in a daze staring at my little girl on the grass.’
Daniel Jones, of Knottingley, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder and two alternative counts of manslaughter.
He also denies arson with intent to endanger life and an alternative charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
Pictured: The damage to the house following the blaze, which police believe was deliberate
Daniel Jones, 29, is on trial for murder and arson and denies all charges. Pictured is the scene following the blaze
Jones also pleads not guilty to burglary.
The prosecution claims Jones poured petrol through the letter box of the property in order to destroy possible CCTV evidence of a burglary he is alleged to have committed days earlier at another house in the street.
Mrs Broadhead said in the statement that the CCTV camera on the front of the house was not working at the time of the incident.
The trial continues.
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.