window.dotcom = window.dotcom || { cmd: [] }; window.dotcom.ads = window.dotcom.ads || { resolves: {enabled: [], getAdTag: []}, enabled: () => new Promise(r => window.dotcom.ads.resolves.enabled.push(r)), getAdTag: () => new Promise(r => window.dotcom.ads.resolves.getAdTag.push(r)) }; setTimeout(() => { if(window.dotcom.ads.resolves){ window.dotcom.ads.resolves.enabled.forEach(r => r(false)); window.dotcom.ads.resolves.getAdTag.forEach(r => r("")); window.dotcom.ads.enabled = () => new Promise(r => r(false)); window.dotcom.ads.getAdTag = () => new Promise(r => r("")); console.error("NGAS load timeout"); } }, 5000)
Skip to content

Fire starter did not intend to kill, jury told

West Midlands Police A police van is visible on the street through the burnt out windows of the house. There is no glass in the frame and police tape outside the property is also visible.West Midlands Police
Akashdeep Singh died in hospital after a hooded figure smashed a bay window and used a container of flammable liquid to start the fire

A lawyer acting for one of two men accused over a fatal arson attack on a family home has claimed whoever started the fire did not intend to kill or endanger life.

Mark Fenhalls KC, representing Daniel Tatters, 26, also suggested a lighter bearing his client's DNA may have been deliberately dropped at the scene of the blaze in Plascom Road, East Park, Wolverhampton, last June.

Prosecutors allege Mr Tatters, of no fixed address, and Dale Francis, 37, of Clare Street in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent are guilty of Akashdeep Singh's murder, which they both deny.

Mr Singh, 26, died in hospital after a hooded figure smashed a bay window and used a container of flammable liquid to start the fire.

Jurors have been shown CCTV footage of the hooded figure - referred to as Profile 1 - setting the blaze, and have been asked to consider whether the house was targeted by mistake, as the Singh family can think of no reason why anybody would have a grievance against them.

'Why alert targets":[]}