Kyle Pearson escaped the blaze at his home in 2017 that claimed the lives of five members of his family
A teenager whose mother and four young siblings were murdered in an arson attack has been locked up after robbing an autistic teenager and attacking a man following a row over a girl.
Kyle Pearson, now 18, was sentenced following the incidents which happened months after his four siblings died in a fire deliberately started at their home in Walkden, Salford, in December 2017.
His mother Michelle Pearson died in August, 20 months after she escaped the inferno. Kyle had also been in the house that night, but escaped.
Demi Pearson, 15, her sisters Lacie, seven, Lia, three and brother Brandon, eight, all died in the horrific petrol bomb blaze at their home Greater Manchester.
A trial heard that in the months before the blaze, Kyle Pearson had been involved in a series of tit-for-tat rows with Zak Bolland, who would later be sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum 40-year term, after being convicted of the murders.
Bolland was also found guilty of attempting to murder Kyle Pearson.
Now Pearson, who appeared at Manchester Crown Court via videolink, has been sentenced to four years in a young offender institution for his role in three incidents following the fire.
In August last year, he and another man, Callum Wood, 21, repeatedly punched a man Pearson had argued with ‘over a girl’.
Pearson and the victim had both been speaking with the girl, who Pearson was ‘interested in’. The victim later received a message on Facebook, warning him ‘don’t be chatting’ with her.
He received another message saying: ‘I will smash your head in you f****** idiot.’
Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and Lia, three, were all killed in the petrol bomb attack at thier home in Greater Manchester in 2017
The Pearson house in Walkden, Salford, Greater Manchester is pictured with scaffolding after the fire that killed four children in December 2017
Later that day, the man was walking down an alleyway when a gang of eight men approached.
An argument broke out, and Pearson and Wood both punched him two or three times each, leaving him with a broken nose and having to be taken to hospital.
Later that same day, he was returning home from hospital when he was set upon by a gang including Pearson, armed with wooden planks, a wooden bat and a metal pole.
He was hit to the back of the head and attacked on the floor, then the attacker stood on his his wrist and his phone was taken.
The victim was again taken to hospital, suffering a fractured eye socket and bruising – an ordeal which he said has had a ‘profound effect’ on him.
He was afraid to return home, had counselling and took medication for stress and anxiety, the court heard.
Pearson admitted offences of robbery, possession of an offensive weapon, namely a piece of wood and two counts of causing actual bodily harm.
Wood pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.
Zak Bolland was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum 40-year term, after being convicted of the murders of five members of Kyle Pearson’s family
Michelle Pearson, 37, (pictured before and after the blaze) suffered 75 per cent burns after petrol bombs were thrown through the window of her house in Salford in December 2017
Two months after the first attack, Pearson, who was 17 at the time, was with another 17-year-old boy.
The pair followed a 14-year-old boy who suffers from autism on the tram, to where he got off at West Didsbury, Manchester.
While he was walking home, they stopped the boy and told him to change the PIN number on his iPhone X, said to be worth about £1,200, before handing it over.
Callum Wood was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months for joining Pearson in attacking a man in an alleyway
Pearson produced a knife. They told the boy to turn off the Find My iPhone app, so the phone could not be traced later. He would be stabbed if he didn’t comply, the pair warned.
In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Matthew Howarth, the victim said: ‘I have done nothing wrong. Nobody has the right to rob my phone off me.’
The 17-year-old boy who was with Pearson was previously sentenced in the youth court.
Pearson admitted offences of robbery and having a bladed article.
Defending Pearson, Gwen Henshaw said: ‘It is rare that a court comes across a more tragic background than Mr Pearson has endured.’
During mitigation, Judge Suzanne Goddard QC said: ‘We all fully understand the very tragic events that he has been a part of. But his own behaviour was clearly spiralling out of control.’
The court heard that Pearson had been ‘rejected to some extent’ by the remaining members of his family, but that has ‘changed’ since he has been in custody, as he is being visited by loved ones since his remand into Forest Bank prison in May.
Richard Orme, for Wood, said the defendant had acted out of a ‘misguided sense of loyalty’ to his friend Pearson.
Kyle Pearson was sentenced to four years in a young offender institution for his role in three incidents following the fire at him home that killed his siblings and mother
Sentencing, Judge Goddard spared Wood jail, handing him a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, to complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 150 hours unpaid work.
But the judge added that she could not spare Pearson jail as his offending was too serious.
He will serve half of his four-year sentence, before being released on licence.
Referencing a probation report written about his background, Judge Goddard said: ‘Nobody reading that report and knowing the facts of the case could fail to be moved by the tragedy that has struck your life, and the members of your family you lost in that terrible fire.’
The judge added: ‘What is remarkable is since you have been remanded in custody, it seems you have started to mature, and started to reflect.’
A restraining order was also imposed, preventing Pearson or Wood from contacting the victim in the August offence for five years.