'I considered a whole life order' - What judge told two murdering arsonists who set fire to Wolverhampton home
Justice Mark Wall KC told the two murderers who set fire to an innocent Wolverhampton family's home he had considered locking them up until they die.
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Dale Francis, 36, will have to serve 36 years before being eligible for parole - his accomplice in starting the house fire which destroyed a Wolverhampton family, Daniel Tatters, 26, will be behind bars for a minimum of 34 years.
Judge Mark Wall KC sentenced the pair at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday and told them he had considered locking them up for life, such was the horrific nature of their crime.
Setting fire to the Singh household in Plascom Road on June 25 last year as they lay in bed wrecked the entirely innocent family in an act which daughter Pawanpreet Kaur told the court was "pure evil".
Before handing down the longest sentences given in Wolverhampton this year Judge Wall explained in detail to the two men why they will be spending the majority of their time left on earth in a cell.
The court heard Francis had a violent history of home invasions and Tatters was on bail and serving a suspended sentence when he set fire to the house.
He said: "The jury unanimously convicted both of you of murder, arson with intent to endanger life, and three counts of attempted murder.
"All of these offences arose from a fire you were both involved in setting in a house in Wolverhampton in the early hours of June 25 last year. Daniel Tatters, I must also sentence you for possession of a knife on a separate occasion, and for breaching a suspended sentence imposed on you on March 26, 2024.
"The only sentence I can pass on each of you for murder is one of life imprisonment. I must also set the minimum term you must spend in custody.
"That term will proportionately reflect your total criminality and not just the offence of murder itself. It is only when you have served the whole of that minimum term that you can apply to the Parole Board for release. It will then be for the Parole Board to decide whether it is safe to release you. If they never deem it safe to do so, you will remain in prison for the rest of your lives. If you ever are released, you will forever be liable to recall to custody."
Justice Wall is one of the most experienced judges in the Midlands and sits on the powerful Sentencing Council of England and Wales which issues guidelines for sentences for judges across the country.
He added: "The house that you targeted was was the home of Gurmukh Singh and Manpreet Kaur along with two of their children, Akashdeep Singh and his younger brother. You, Francis, drove your Golf car from Stoke-on-Trent to Wolverhampton in the dead of night with Tatters as your passenger. Together, you were armed with a plastic container full of petrol, a lighter, and a hammer.
"You parked the car up in Sutherland Road which is a quiet street on the opposite side of East Park to where the target house was located. I am sure that this was in the hope that the car, and therefore yourselves, would not be linked to the offence. You then both walked across the park with the items you had taken with you. You were dressed in dark clothing with your faces hidden. You, Francis, acted as look-out at the bottom of the road, while you, Tatters, walked up to the house.
"Once at the house, you went straight up to the living room window. It was obvious that the house was occupied.
"In addition to the fact that you targeted a dwelling house late at night, there was a car parked outside and a light on inside the building. You made no attempt to check who was at home before you set the fire. You began by hammering on the window until it smashed and then threw the petrol through the window into the living room. You then lit something with the lighter and threw whatever that item was into the living room, causing the petrol to ignite. It started an immediate and fierce fire.
"Within moments the flames had reached the guttering at the eaves of the house, and the inside of the house had filled with smoke. The flames, heat and smoke on the stairs meant that they could not be used. Gurmukh Singh, who was eating downstairs, managed to escape into the garden. The rest of the family were not so fortunate. They were all upstairs in bed when you attacked their house. They tried to get downstairs but were unable to do so because of the ferocity of the fire. Gurmukh Singh urged the rest of his family to jump from an upper floor window in order to save themselves. Their younger son managed to open a window and did so.
"His chilling account to the jury was that he did so because he thought that he was doomed to die in any event and wanted the end to come swiftly from the fall and not more slowly from the fire. His mother and brother did not jump. They remained in the upstairs of the house until they were found there unconscious by fire fighters. He told the jury of the panic and fear in the house before he jumped. Both his mother and brother were crying and shouting that they were all going to die. Akashdeep Singh was trying to make a 999 call to the emergency services."
"Having set the fire, the two of you ran back across the park to where you had hidden the car. You then drove back to Stoke."
