Firebomb threat would have led to arrest ‘in an ideal world’, inquest told

But the court heard on 6 December the crime report for the investigation into the threats made against Pearson by Bolland had been “closed” on the police computer system.

Webster told the court the system did not appear to have recorded the identity of the person who closed it.

Less than a week later, in the dead of night on 11 December, Bolland and his accomplice, David Worrall, 28, smashed the windows at the back of the Pearson family home and threw in petrol bombs, which “exploded” near the stairs.

That blocked the only exit to the ground floor and trapped the sleeping family upstairs as the flames spread.

The four children were killed in the blaze. Pearson suffered 68% burns to her body and “clung on to life”.

In 2018, Bolland and Worrall were both given four life sentences and told they would serve a minimum of 40 and 37 years respectively for the petrol bombing. In 2019, after Michelle’s death, they were charged with her murder and convicted of it in 2021.

Bolland’s girlfriend, Courtney Brierley, 20, was jailed for 21 years for four counts of manslaughter.

Their trial heard attacks on Pearson’s home arose out of an escalating feud between Bolland and one of her sons.

She had called police on at least five occasions in the two weeks before the firebombing and had begged to be re-housed, the murder trial at Manchester Crown Court heard.

The inquest, which is investigating if there were any missed opportunities by police or other agencies to protect the family, continues.