A 21-year-old student in Britain was convicted of the murder of his 94-year-old grandmother, as according to a police investigation, it was revealed that he set fire to the curtains of her house.
In particular, 21-year-old Tiernan Darnton killed 94-year-old Mary Gregory – his father’s mother – by setting fire to her home in Heysham, Lancashire, in May 2018. The unfortunate woman was discovered under a table and later exhaled, four days later, at the hospital.
Initially, the investigation of the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service conducted in 2018, found that the 94-year-old was the victim of a fire from a thrown cigarette inside the house, excluding any involvement of a third party.
The mistake of the 21-year-old – The authorities suspected him
Police reopened the investigation in 2019, as the 21-year-old made the “mistake” and indirectly revealed the murder of the elderly woman. Tiernan, according to the investigation, had confessed several weeks after the death of the 94-year-old, during a game he was playing with friends, “Truth or Courage”, that “I may have killed someone”. Tiernan then persuaded his friends not to talk about the incident, even though they did not believe him at first.
But in May 2019, he spoke to a counselor, telling him characteristically that a friend of his, “could send me to jail because of what he knows.” In this way, they slowly began to suspect him.
Then, in a session, as he seems to be drowning in guilt, he told the counselor that he was responsible for the fire in his grandmother’s house. He made the same revelation to his 66-year-old father. The matter was taken by the counselor herself, to the police and after that everything took its course.
“I am a murderer”
Police examined the 21-year-old’s phone and personal computer, where they found that his internet searches after the fire included: “I am a murderer”, “I am a monster and I am going to hell” and “Need to kill again”. A month before the fire – when the perpetrator was 17 years old – he also made searches such as “Murder under 18”.
The information presented to the jurors included drawings found in the address of the 21-year-old’s house and described the floor plan of the 94-year-old’s house. It also contained labels such as “good hiding place” and “quick exit”, as well as references to the need for “good alibi”.
“Do not suffer more from dementia”
The 21-year-old claimed in Preston court that he set fire because he did not want his grandmother to “suffer more from dementia”.
The 21-year-old’s father, in defense of the perpetrator in the trial, testified that the 94-year-old had been suffering from depression for several years and was “tormented by interventionist thoughts that were very, very annoying”. He also pointed out that he would take his adopted son to the police himself, if he believed that he had committed such a crime.
Following the verdict, Inspector Zoe Russo said: “The perpetrator regularly visited the 94-year-old’s home after her son took him under his protection at a young age. The 21-year-old spent time at his grandmother’s house and not only took advantage of the elderly woman’s kind nature, but used his access to her home to meticulously plan his murder. ” Finally, the sentence will take place tomorrow, Friday.
