Heysham explosion: Fatal blast caused by 'neighbour from hell'

Two-year-old George Hinds died in the blast in Heysham in May 2021

A man who cut a gas pipe to sell for scrap, causing a blast in which a two-year-old boy died, was a "neighbour from hell", a court has heard.

Darren Greenham, 45, used an angle grinder to cut the pipe at his home on Mallowdale Avenue in Heysham, Lancashire, in May 2021.

The subsequent explosion killed George Hinds, whose family lived next door.

George's father Stephen told a sentencing hearing at Preston Crown Court he had lost his "absolute world".

Greenham, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, damaging a gas meter and theft of gas at a hearing in August, was alcohol and drugs dependent, Mr Hinds said.

He had made his neighbours' life a "misery" by playing music until the early hours and insulting his young son, he added.

Mr Hinds told the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing: "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."

Two houses collapsed and a third was seriously damaged in the explosion

In a statement, George's mother Vicki Studholme described Greenham as a "neighbour from hell" who made her feel "unsafe" because he threatened violence to the family.

"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."

In her statement, she said that being trapped in the rubble following the explosion "was the most scared I had ever been in my life".

She added: "This was until I arrived at the hospital to be told George had died. Never, ever, have I felt so scared as in that moment."

Preston Crown Court heard that the explosion, which happened at about 02:35 BST on 16 May 2021, destroyed the Lancashire County Council-owned property where Greenham lived.

It left two neighbouring terraced houses severely damaged and a further 55 properties in the area were also affected.

Emergency workers at the scene of the gas explosion in May 2021

Timothy Cray KC, prosecuting, said the council had been considering eviction against Greenham at the time of the blast after a number of complaints.

He said the 45-year-old had been removing every bit of pipework for weeks, "seemingly because he knew he was going and he wanted to make what he could from selling it as scrap".

Greenham, who suffered a serious head injury and lost most of the use of his right hand in the explosion, had also altered the gas meter so he could receive free gas, Mr Cray added.

A Health and Safety Executive report found wooden floorboards had been removed from the first floor landing of the house and gas pipes had been cut deliberately, the court heard.

Peter Glenser KC, defending, said Greenham was sober for the first time in "many, many years" since being in custody awaiting sentence.

This had given him a "clarity and an insight that he didn't have through all his years of drink and drugs, and that has enabled him to see for the first time what terrible harm he has caused".

Greenham is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday.