Man who killed elderly couple in arson attack 'broke down', court told
Eric Greener and Sheila Jackson died when their home in St Helens was set on fire last year
A man responsible for killing an elderly couple in an arson attack last summer "broke down" to his girlfriend after the crime, a court has been told.
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Eric Greener, 77, and Sheila Jackson, 83, died after their home on South John Street, St Helens, was set on fire in July 2025.
Kevin Weetman, Lee Owens and Kylie Maynard are accused of their murders, and are on trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Paul Smith, who is believed to be the one "responsible for setting fire to the house", died a week after the incident.
It is alleged that Ms Jackson’s son, George Jackson, was the intended target of the attack, after Weetman had wanted payment for cocaine that George had thought was a gift.
He was out at the time of the attack.
Before he died, Smith reported he was given a gun and told to "do a person over" on behalf of a man nicknamed "Red Head" - allegedly a nickname for Weetman, a drug dealer based in the Anfield area of Liverpool - the court was told.
In a pre-recorded interview with police, Smith's girlfriend Sarah Dunne said she "knew" he had been sent to do something on behalf of Weetman, and confirmed that he set the house on fire that killed Mr Greener and Ms Jackson.
"I don't think they were meant to be there. Paul did get sent by Kevin to do it, but it was for another man."
She said Smith had told her the couple were not the intended victims telling the court they were "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
She denied that she had known about the attack beforehand, saying Smith only told her what had happened afterwards.
"He knew that he was going to get into a lot of trouble for it.
"He broke down to me, said he done this. He told me he'd killed two people. He was the one that done the fire.
"He didn't know if Lee Owens had been nicked for it. He just said Lee Owens went with him. He didn't tell me exactly what he’d done either. But he did tell me he did do it."
"He was scared. You could tell he was scared. I sort of shrugged it off. I didn’t want to know. But you could tell he was scared. We never spoke no more about it."
Owens, 48, admitted his involvement in starting the fire but said "that he only intended to damage the building".
Both Weetman, 34, and Maynard, 37, "deny that they had anything to do with the setting of the fire", claiming only that they had attempted to "trick" George Jackson into working for them as a drug dealer the month before.
Weetman and Maynard both deny murder but have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Owens has pleaded not guilty to murder but previously admitted two counts of manslaughter.