George's mother, Vicki Studholme, and several other neighbors watched the sentencing from the public gallery with George's father, Stephen Hindis, holding his son's Paw Patrol toy.
Stephen Hindis couldn't hide his grief as he told the court that he wished it was he who had died instead of his toddler. “I regret laying in that rubble screaming for help and being pulled out alive," he said. A little over a year ago, in a tragic gas explosion, George, a two-year-old toddler, passed away. George’s parents, Stephen Hindis and Vicki Studholme were also injured, but were taken to the hospital for treatment and later discharged. After elaborate investigations, it was established that Darren Greenham, the family's neighbor, was responsible for the explosion, per Sky News.
Investigations revealed that Greenham had been stealing and cutting other pipework from the property in the months before the explosion with the intention of selling it for scrap metal. At the trial's conclusion, the court sentenced Greenham to 15 years in prison. George's mother, Vicki Studholme, and several other neighbors watched the sentencing from the public gallery with George's father, Stephen Hindis, holding his son's Paw Patrol toy.
'Neighbour from hell' jailed for manslaughter after gas explosion that killed toddler https://t.co/sl26n7OGag
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 5, 2022
Victim impact statements from George Hinds' mother Vicki and father Stephen Hinds were read aloud during Darren Greenham's sentencing at Preston Crown Court, per Lancaster Guardian. The emotional father, in his statement, expressed that he has lost his world. “By Darren Greenham cutting a gas pipe to make a few quid I have lost my son, my absolute world, I am struggling to put into words how I relive the nightmare of the early hours of May 16, 2021 every day.”
He continued, “I regret laying in that rubble screaming for help and being pulled out alive. I wish it would have been me that died and George could be with mummy doing magical things all three-year-olds should be doing, going to the park, swimming, opening his birthday presents, and going to see Father Christmas.”
'Broken' parents of toddler kkilled in Heysham gas explosion speak out as man is jailed for their son’s death https://t.co/mxCmynYhC5
— Lancashire Post (@leponline) October 5, 2022
The heartbroken father expressed the traumatizing experience of looking at his child's body after the explosion, recounting the harrowing experience. He said, “I could not bring myself to go in the ambulance with George and the guilt I feel about this is overwhelming. Having arrived at the hospital and seeing seven or eight people working on George’s naked body, to be then told by doctors that there was nothing more that could be done.”
Adding that this is irreversible trauma for him, the father said, “The image of George laying there with the blanket up to his neck and his blue face will haunt me forever. Even the doctors had tears in their eyes. I honestly thought I was having a nightmare. I remember thumping my head trying to wake myself up.”
'Broken' parents of toddler kkilled in Heysham gas explosion speak out as man is jailed for their son’s death https://t.co/mxCmynYhC5
— Lancashire Post (@leponline) October 5, 2022
Initially, Greenham denied doing anything but in August, he pled guilty to all charges. DCI Jane Webb, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said, “Darren Greenham is a truly selfish and wicked man whose main motivation in the build-up to the fatal explosion was financial greed.”
References
Cover Image Source: YouTube | iTV News
