Darren Greenham, 45, used an angle grinder to cut through the pipe in the early hours of May 16 last year, causing the huge explosion that killed George Hinds in Heysham, Lancashire, and damaged 55 properties in the area.
Four others, including his bereaved parents Vicky Studholme and Stephen Hinds, were injured after the fireball leveled their terraced house, and a third home was also badly damaged.
Greenham pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, damage to a gas meter and gas theft in August, before being jailed today.
Sentencing him for involuntary manslaughter at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday, Preston Record Judge Robert Altham said: “Mr Greenham was a selfish and disruptive neighbour.
“He lived his life without regard for the comfort of those unlucky enough to live alongside him.”
George’s father grabbed a Paw Patrol toy as he watched the sentence from the public gallery with George’s mother and other neighbors.
Charged
Darren Greenham, 45, has been jailed for 15 years after pleading guilty to charges of manslaughter, damage to a gas meter and gas theft in August.
The judge praised George’s parents, who have been living in a caravan since the blast, for their dignity and said he shared their “misunderstanding” that someone could risk the lives of so many by stealing “a few bits of copper “. pipeline’.
Following today’s sentencing, Lancashire Police said: ‘Darren is a truly selfish and evil man whose main motivation in piling up the fatal explosion was financial greed. His reckless actions resulted in the death of a completely innocent child, the destruction of several houses and £100,000 worth of damage.
“No sentence will compensate for the loss of George’s life or reflect the pain and misery that Darren has caused.
‘Nobody should put his son to bed at night, in a safe place, and not be able to see him alive again. Our thoughts are with George and his family.”
Greenham, who showed no emotion in the dock, received simultaneous one-month sentences on charges of damaging the meter and gas theft.
George’s mother, Vicki Studholme, said she felt ‘unsafe’ at home because of Greenham, a ‘neighbor from hell’ who she said threatened her, her husband and their son with violence.
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She said: “I feel that although we have reported this countless times, we have been disappointed by the council and the police, and the death of my beautiful baby could have been prevented.”
She added: ‘After the explosion, being trapped in the rubble was the scariest thing I’ve ever been in my life.
‘This was until I got to the hospital and was told that George had died.
‘I have never, ever felt so scared as I did at that time in my life.’
Timothy Cray KC, prosecutor, said that at the time of the explosion, the council was considering starting eviction proceedings after a series of complaints about Greenham’s behaviour.
He said: “He had been removing all the pipes he could for weeks before, apparently because he knew he was coming and wanted to do what he could by selling it for scrap.”
The court heard that the gas meter on the property had been tampered with so that Greenham could receive gas without paying for it.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report after the explosion found that wooden floorboards had been removed from the first floor of the house and that gas pipes had been deliberately cut.
The court heard that the blast at 2:36am destroyed the Lancashire County Council property Greenham lived on and severely damaged the two neighboring terraced houses
The explosion likely occurred 20 to 40 minutes after they were cut off and there would have been a strong smell of gas and an audible noise prior to that, according to the report.
Defense attorney Peter Glenser KC said Greenham was sober for the first time in “many, many years” since he was in custody awaiting sentencing.
He said: ‘With that sobriety has come a clarity and insight that he didn’t have during all his years of drinking and drugs, and that clarity and understanding has allowed him to see for the first time the terrible damage he has caused. ‘
Greenham, who suffered a serious head injury and lost most of the use of his right hand in the explosion, pleaded guilty in August to manslaughter, damage to a gas meter and gas theft.
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