Teens who killed pensioner with fireworks and ran off laughing are jailed

Two teenagers who started a fire which killed a pensioner by setting off fireworks in his house have been jailed for manslaughter.

Robert Price, 76, had been tormented for years by local youths who harassed him and regularly smashed the windows of his house in Dagenham, east London, until he boarded them up.

Nathan Otitodilchukwu, 18, and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, approached Mr Price’s home in July last year after filming themselves launching a firework into a lake.

They entered the front garden where the younger boy climbed onto the gas meter box and punched a hole above the boarded-up part of the window before pushing the lit firework through.

Otitodilchukwu was heard on doorbell cam footage saying: ‘Gonna f***ing torch this n*****’, ‘yo, you f***ing paedo’, ‘yo you f***ing d***head’ ‘ ‘We are gonna f**k you up,’ before running away. 

Prosecutors told the court: ‘A loud bang can be heard, followed by high-pitched laughing as the group run away.’

Minutes later, smoke could be seen coming out of the window, before flames and black smoke began to billow from inside.

A neighbour tried to get into the house to rescue Mr Price but the door was locked.

Firefighters forced their way in and put out the fire but the 76-year-old could not be saved.

Otitodilchukwu was jailed for six years and the 16-year-old was sentenced to two years and eight months in custody.

Mr Price’s family said he was a ‘kind’ and ‘generous’ man, though a friend of 10 years said some people found him ‘hard to get along with’ as he was socially awkward.

The friend said Mr Price would rarely leave his house because ‘kids would disturb him’.

‘This would happen all the time and they would make his life hell,’ Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, said.

Only three days before the pensioner’s death, a brick had been launched through his window.

Otitodilchukwu, who was living in a care home in Romford, returned that evening and told a support worker ‘I’m going to do 20 years in jail’, the court heard.

A few days later he asked a woman if she’d heard about the fire and said: ‘If anyone asks, don’t say I was in Dagenham.’

When asked why he said: ‘Maybe I started the fire with a firework.’

Judge Rebecca Trowler, who sentenced the pair this week, said it was clear they both intended to harm Mr Price.

She accepted that the younger teen had expressed ‘remorse’ and may have been ‘encouraged’ by Otitodilchukwu, who she said had ‘poor impulse control’ and a ‘lack of appreciation of the impact on others’.

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