Teenagers jailed over fireworks attack on widower Robert Price

BBC News

02-06-2025

Two teenagers have been locked up for a firework attack which led to the death of widower in his terraced home in east London.In the years leading up to the attack, Robert Price, 76, had been the target of a prolonged campaign of harassment and criminal damage, the Old Bailey was told.Nathan Otitodilchukwu, 18, and a 16-year-old who cannot be named due to his age threatened to "torch" the pensioner before punching a hole in his window and pushing a firework into his home on Oval Road North, Dagenham, last July.The pair had admitted manslaughter and were sentenced on Monday by Judge Rebecca Trowler KC.
'Poor impulse control'
Otitodilchukwu was jailed for six years and the youth was handed a custodial sentence of two years and eight months.Judge Trowler told the younger boy: "Mr Price lost his life in circumstances of a planned attack where I am sure you intended some harm, and in any event it was highly reckless as to the risk of harm."She noted the older defendant had "poor impulse control" and a "lack of appreciation of the impact on others".However, his was a "determined effort to carry out this offence and cause harm just short of serious harm", she said.The judge accepted that the younger defendant may have been "encouraged" by the older teenager who had previously been involved in criminal behaviour.She also noted that he had expressed "remorse" and awareness of the "gravity" of the offence.
Previously, prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC had told how Mr Price's terraced home filled with black smoke on 27 July 2024 before he could be saved."Robert Price was killed in a fire which was started at his home address by the two defendants who smashed a window at his property and threw a firework inside," she told the court.John Shoesmith, who had been friends with Mr Price for 10 years, said he would never leave his house because "kids would disturb him," Ms Farrelly said.Mr Shoesmith described him as socially awkward and said his lack of social skills and poor hearing meant some people found him "hard to get along with".The harassment included acts of criminal damage to his house, the court heard.According to Mr Shoesmith, Mr Price's windows were regularly smashed by a number of the local children, to the point that he had his downstairs windows boarded up."In Mr Shoesmith's words, this would happen all the time and they would make his life hell," Ms Farrelly said.
'High-pitched laughing'
CCTV footage from the day of the fire showed that in the hours before the attack, Otitodilchukwu, who was living in care, met up with the 16-year-old boy.They filmed themselves launching a firework into a lake, the court was told.At around 17:30 BST, they walked towards Mr Price's house with the 16-year-old boy holding what was believed to be a firework, Ms Farrelly said.Doorbell footage showed Mr Price open the door slightly and say something, before the 16-year-old ran away shouting "he saw me fam" shortly before the youths returned and carried out the attack."A loud bang can be heard, followed by high-pitched laughing as the group run away," the prosecutor said.A few minutes later, smoke could be seen coming out of the window, before flames and black smoke engulfed the room, the court heard.A neighbour who had seen the flames knocked on the door and briefly spoke to Mr Price, but his "responses became less clear", the court was told.The neighbour tried to rescue Mr Price, but the door was locked, Ms Farrelly said.Firefighters were later able to get inside and put out the fire, but Mr Price could not be saved.
'Kind and generous'
When Otitodilchukwu, of Romford, returned to his care home that evening, he spoke to a support worker and said, "I'm going to do 20 years in jail" and "Don't check for news about what happened in Dagenham", the court heard.A little later he also told his support worker: "I was drinking with my friends on Saturday and we were shooting fireworks."A few days later, he asked a woman if she had heard about the fire, before telling her, "If anyone asks, don't say I was in Dagenham," the court was told.When asked why, he said: "Maybe I started the fire with a firework."He went on to say that he was drunk with two of his friends, that he had put a firework through a letter box and that it was funny.Otitodilchukwu was arrested the same day and the 16-year-old was arrested the following month.In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Price's family said he was a "kind" and "generous" man, and described the "suffering" that he must have endured.