Son would be welcomed back into his home
Jan 30 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal
A MOTHER has described frantic attempts to save her two daughters from a house fire allegedly started by their teenage brother – but said she wouldn’t hesitate to welcome her son back into her home.
Anita Spence lost her only daughters Tatum Leah, 14, and Demi-Jade, 12, in the fire which gutted their home in South Shields last April. Her husband John suffered severe burns as he tried in vain to rescue the stricken teenagers.
The couple’s 18-year-old son Shane denies murdering his sisters, and attempting to murder both his parents by pouring petrol on the sofa at the family house at Lisle Road, South Shields, before setting it alight in the early hours of April 4 last year.
Mrs Spence told Newcastle Crown Court that there had been no arguments or tensions that she knew of between any of the five members of her immediate family in the days leading up to the blaze.
She dismissed occasional squabbles between both Shane and her husband, and between her son and eldest daughter as trivial, and said: “If Shane had done something wrong he would get told he had done something wrong, but at the end of the day we were still family and we would get on with it. We actually were a close family.”
She admitted Tatum and her brother argued frequently, occasionally “thumping” one another, but added: “In an ideal world you don’t want your kids fighting with each other, but it’s not an ideal world and I did it with my brothers and sisters.”
The court had been told that in the weeks leading up to the devastating fire, Shane had given up a job with charity Youth Choice, which had disappointed both his parents as they felt he was wasting an opportunity to gain qualifications.
Her son had also been under pressure to care for his baby daughter Leeanda, she said, as his on-off partner Lorraine Bruce had been suffering from post-natal depression, and this had contributed to him giving up the position.
She said that Miss Bruce frequently used the baby as a weapon when the pair had “spats”, preventing Shane from seeing his daughter, and the court was told one such argument led to him taking an overdose just three days before the fire.
Mrs Spence also defended a previous fire her son had begun – which destroyed a garden shed in 2002 – as an accident.
She said: “My understanding was that a match or something had dropped. It was an accident. That was my understanding of it.”
Toby Hedworth, defending Shane Spence, said: “You have suffered a grievous loss, Mrs Spence.
“You know your son perhaps better than anybody else does. Would you have him back under your roof?”
Mrs Spence replied without hesitation: “Yes.”
He added: “Would you have any qualms about having him back under your roof?”
She answered: “No.”
The trial continues.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
To see previous Journal coverage of this story click the links below
Mother's moving tribute to fire-death daughters
Youth denies killing two sisters in fire
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Daughters die trapped in their rooms
HEARTBROKEN mother Anita Spence broke down in tears yesterday as she described the moment she realised her daughters had perished in a house fire.
Tatum Leah and Demi-Jade were asleep in separate bedrooms at the family home when flames engulfed the settee, quickly spreading to the rest of the house.
Both girls were killed by burns and smoke inhalation. Tatum’s body was found at the end of her bed on the first floor of the three-storey house and Demi-Jade’s beneath the window of her loft bedroom.
Mrs Spence told the jury at Newcastle Crown Court she had been convinced her eldest daughter had been behind her on the landing as she went to make her escape. Blinded by smoke and struggling to breathe, Mrs Spence said she believed the family’s only hope was for her to raise the alarm from outside while her husband went to rescue Demi-Jade from the top floor.
She said: "I thought, nobody knows the house is on fire and nobody knows we are here, so I thought it best to go and get some help."
The jury was told that Mrs Spence tried to get back into her home numerous times as she screamed the girls’ names, and neighbours struggled to break down the front door.
She said: "I think at that point that four different people grabbed a hold of me to stop me from going back in.
She said: "At this point I had it in my head that the girls were gone."
