Carlisle thugs in 'clown masks' tried to firebomb family's home

The late night attack on a terraced property in the city’s South Street last year was filmed by concerned neighbours, providing vital evidence that helped lead police to the would-be arsonists, 19-year-old Liam Gearing and 22-year-old Harry Robinson.

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Tim Evans described what happened. The victim was a woman who lived in the property with her two children, including one who had previously associated with Gearing.

At 8.15pm on May 28, the woman was at home alone when she walked into her living room and found Gearing, who said he was looking for her son.

The defendant seemed “agitated” as though he was under the influence of some substance, said the woman, who asked him to leave.

His response was to push her, making her fall to the floor. At this stage, three females arrived, after which Gearing left, driving away in a Nissan Juke which was stolen 24 hours earlier..

Just under two hours later, Gearing reappeared on the street, driving the Nissan.

Camera phone video footage showed him and Robinson, both wearing clown masks and balaclavas. Robinson was seen kicking a hole in the same victim’s front door before using a knife to cut away part of it.

“They had a bottle of something and made a series of attempts to light it,” said Mr Evans. They had trouble lighting the rag that was stuffed into the bottle and Gearing was heard asking Robinson for a lighter. The latter handed a lighter to his friend.

Once it was alight, they shoved the lighted bottle through the hole in the door and left in the Duke, filmed by some concerned neighbours.

When arrested, Robinson blamed Gearing, claiming he had tried to stop him from committing the attempted arson but the video footage showed that to be a lie.

Fortunately, the “firebomb” failed because it did not explode when it hit the floor in the hallway.“But this was a firebomb, put deliberately into the house,” said Mr Evans.

In a victim statement, the woman whose home was targeted said she felt she had “got lucky” on this occasion because nobody had died or been injured.

“It could have been much worse if the fire had properly taken hold,” she said.

She feared that the two offenders may friends who would seek retribution. She spoke also of the risk to other properties on the street as well as her own.

Andrew Evans, for Gearing, of Regent Street, Carlisle, accepted the defendant had a shockingly poor record, featuring a witness intimidation among his 30 previous crimes.

“He’s had a very difficult upbringing,” said the barrister. The child of a teenage mother, he was put into local authority care at 13.

He had said education did not happen for him and he had become addicted to Class A drugs, being in prison on the day that his child was born. “He was released from prison into a hostel at 18, and found himself sofa surfing,” said Mr Evans.

“He was in the grip of addiction because he had nothing else in his life, which at his age is something of a tragedy,” added the barrister.

Jeff Smith, for Robinson, formerly of Currock Park Avenue, Carlisle, said life had been going well for the defendant when he was 19 but then his long term relationship with his partner ended and he became involved in alcohol and drugs. “He’d experimented with cannabis when he was younger,” said Mr Smith.

“He became involved with serious amounts of alcohol and serious amounts of drugs and met people who were using serious amounts of alcohol and drugs and that’s why he became involved in this offence.”

Robinson’s motivation had been to “protect” Gearing, but when he left his home in a “drug induced” state that day had had not known what was going to happen. A probation officer who spoke to Robinson regarded his remorse for the offending as genuine.

Judge Nicholas Barker will conclude the sentencing this morning. Both defendants have pleaded guilty to an offence of committing attempted arson with intent to endanger life.