Stafford factory fire trial: Customer says 'I did not start fireworks blaze'
A customer at a fireworks company where two people perished in a huge explosion has denied deliberately causing the blaze.
Jonathan Collins told a jury he 'categorically did not' throw a lit firework into the Stafford shop seconds before the building erupted in flames.
Dramatic footage of him running from SP Fireworks as rockets and missiles are going off behind him was shown to a jury at Stafford Crown Court where factory owner Richard Pearson is on trial for manslaughter.
Mr Richard Furlong, defending Pearson, asked Mr Collins: "Do you agree that running off after an explosion looks quite suspicious?"
Mr Collins replied that in retrospect it did but he added: "I put it to you that if you were there, and knew anything about fireworks, you would have been running as well."
He had been a regular customer of the Baswich business, buying about £1,500 worth of fireworks a year, and was friends with the staff, the court heard.
He had fled to his van when the blaze erupted and driven to a roundabout on a nearby estate where he stopped and was taken in by a resident.
Asked why he did not call the emergency services first, he said he was in 'a bit of a panic' and needed to get his van, which was packed with fireworks, to safety.
He said: "I was just concerned with myself if I'm honest. It was only 30 seconds from shutting the van doors to being on that estate. It was such a shock, I just wanted to be away."
Mr Furlong persisted: "When your friends are in a massive explosion, why is your first instinct is to run off and not call an ambulance?" Mr Collins replied: "I was scared."
Pearson told police that he thought someone had thrown a firework into the shop just before the explosion on October 30, 2014. Mr Collins was arrested by police later that night on suspicion of arson but never charged.
Fire investigators have since dismissed the claim, concluding that the blaze was started by the accidental setting off of pyrotechnics inside the unit.
Mr Collins had heard a ‘crackle, thump and bang’ sound and saw what looked like a big firework going off inside the shop, the court heard.
Employee Simon Hillier, 41, and customer Stuart Staples, 57, died in the fire which the prosecution alleges occurred as a result of Pearson's disregard of safety regulations.
It is claimed that boxes of fireworks were packed too closely together at the Tilcon Avenue unit and that inadequate controls were in place to prevent the spread of any fire.
Pearson, of Holyrood Close, Stafford, denies the manslaughter of father-of-one Mr Hillier and father-of-three Mr Staples, who were both from Hednesford. The trial continues.
