Andrew Gorrell was wearing a Nightmare on Elm Street T-shirt – a horror film in which the central character is burned alive – when he set a wheelie bin on fire outside a pensioner’s home in Wednesbury, West Midlands, in the early hours of 11 May last year.
The bin had been placed to block the front door of the house in Holyhead Road. Flames quickly spread to the property, engulfing it. Inside were 82-year-old John Edwards, his wife, and their two adult sons, Carl, 60, and Mark, 57, who were both staying the night.
“Andrew Gorrell, 55, jailed for life for murdering John Edwards, 82, by torching a wheelie bin blocking his front door.”
Mr Edwards died in hospital two weeks later. His two sons were left in a coma.
Sentencing Gorrell at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday, Judge Michael Chambers KC told him: “For anyone to wake up in the night to find their home on fire is a living nightmare.”
The 55-year-old, from Saltney in Flintshire, was found guilty in February of murder, two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and arson with intent to endanger life. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years before he can apply for parole.
Prosecutor Rachel Brand KC told the court that Gorrell – then in his late teens – had been given a 12-month custodial sentence in 1990 at Knutsford Crown Court for setting fire to a club while working as a glass collector.
The court heard Gorrell has a long history of alcohol abuse and had been drinking before setting the fatal fire, as well as three other nearby wheelie bin blazes that same night.
Judge Chambers said Gorrell’s actions and his previous conviction showed he was “a highly dangerous individual” with an interest in fire. The judge cited three factors, including that Gorrell was wearing a T-shirt referencing a film “in which fire plays a central part”.
“Why you were going there has never been fully explained – you having elected not to give evidence,” the judge told him. “But once there, you quite deliberately set a number of fires.”
The judge said he was “not persuaded of much remorse or regret” and described the attack as “clearly an evil, random attack, the reason for which is not clear”.
Passing concurrent sentences of up to 12 years for the non-murder offences, Judge Chambers added: “No sentence I can impose can put the clock back, nor should it be viewed as an attempt to put a value on a human life.”
Victim personal statements from family members, including one of Mr Edwards’ grandchildren, showed the impact was “absolutely horrendous”, the judge said.
Gorrell blinked repeatedly as the sentence was passed.