A SCHOOLBOY tearfully told a court he lied to the police about starting fires at a DIY warehouse where a former Thatcham drifter died.
The teenager and two friends stand accused of manslaughter after starting small fires at the scene of a massive warehouse blaze which left the homeless man dead, a court heard.
The Klyne and Klyne warehouse in Manchester Road, Walkden, Manchester, was destroyed in a blaze in February 2006.
Four weeks later, the charred remains of alcoholic Henry Earl, aged 33, were found.
The three youths, all aged 15, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny manslaughter and arson.
One of the youths told Manchester Crown Court that he had originally told the police he had been at the warehouse on the evening of February 12, but had not been involved with lighting any fires.
But he admitted in court that he and his two friends, all aged 13 at the time, had been playing with fire.
“We found some spray paint cans and were drawing circles and patterns on the floor and lighting them,” he said.
They were also using the aerosol cans as flamethrowers, by lighting the paint as they sprayed it, said the boy.
The boy told the court he picked up a can of carpet glue, which he thought was paint, sprayed it on the floor and lit it. The glue was thicker than the paint, and stayed alight for about 10 seconds and the can exploded.
He said: “When the glue caught on fire, myself and one of my friends tried to stamp it out. Another friend smothered it with a plastic bag, we then left the factory and to my knowledge the fire was out.”
CCTV footage captured figures of three boys dragging a metal cage of spray paint cans, and there were some flashes on the screen.
The figures are then seen walking back and forth at 9.10pm, and the area filled with smoke.
The boy said he was home by 9pm and that he did not think there was any risk the whole warehouse would go up in flames.
On the night of the fire, homeless Mr Earl had stumbled drunkenly into the warehouse for shelter. The lower half of his body was discovered four weeks later but the upper half was never found.
At the time of his death, the Newbury Weekly News reported that Mr Earl, who had previously lived in Whittaker Court, Thatcham, was also due to appear in front of West Berkshire Magistrates to face charges of theft and common assault.
However, he left Thatcham with his girlfriend Dawn Howe, visiting his family in Wigan before living in a tent beside the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford.
Miss Howe later returned to Thatcham.
The hearing continues.