Our story today begins in Ash Crescent in the Stanley area of Wakefield – which is a normal housing development – on 19 October 2016.
Andrew and Sara Broadhead and their two daughters eight-year-old Kiera and twelve-year-old Mia were just back from their holiday in Spain the afternoon before and fast asleep in their home in Wakefield. Sara heard a loud bang which woke her up and then as she looked over the banister she saw to her horror flames around the area by the front door. The stuff of nightmares. Sara describes what happened next: “I started shouting, ‘Fire, fire, we need to get out’. Andy and I were in a panic, bumping into each other on the landing.” She told how her husband went to get Kiera whilst she went to Mia’s bedroom and she and Mia out onto the roof of a utility room.
She continued: “I could hear Andy coughing and Kiera screaming but when I dropped down onto the flat roof, they weren’t behind me. It all went quiet, and I just knew.”
The fire brigade came, and they managed to get inside. Eventually I saw Kiera being carried out and as they were bringing her down, I saw her arm move and my heart jumped. She was laid on the grass but then I realised that she hadn’t made it. I was standing there in a daze staring at my little girl on the grass.”
And despite help from neighbours who did all they could to help, both Kiera and Andrew died in the fire. When the fire brigade arrived, tragically, they found Kiera and Andrew. Both of them had collapsed inside the house near to the bedroom that they would have been trying to use to escape. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Kiera was just eight years old and Andrew only forty-two. Both losing their lives in their own home, the place where they should always be safe.
As emergency services arrived on the scene, it was very clear that this had been no accident. So just who would have wanted to harm or kill this very normal family? Detectives found nothing that could suggest that the family had been specifically targeted. And three days later, on 22 October, a local man who didn’t know the family had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
This man was twenty-nine-year-old Daniel Jones. In October of 2016, he was having a hard time. He was under pretty severe financial pressure due to a major gambling problem that had got out of hand. He had started with football bets but progressed to roulette. He also hadn’t been paid for some recent work and was now starting to owe people to a number of people who wanted to know exactly when he was going to pay what he owed. And on top of this, his former partner was pushing him hard for child support payments.
Jones knew that a friend of his, Ben Kaye, who lived close to the Broadhead family had a safe in his house and he also knew that there was a decent amount of cash in it.
This seemed like it could make his financial issues go away and Jones used his employer’s van to visit Ben’s home when he knew he wasn’t home, and he stole the safe. In fact, when it was taken, the safe contained £850 and 1oz of ketamine.
When the police later looked at his devices, Jones had made a google search on ‘How to break into a Yale safe’ and found a video tutorial.
Following the theft of his safe, Ben Kaye – made some enquiries with people he knew locally, and he became suspicious that his so-called mate Jones could be the culprit after seeing video evidence of his van on the street at the time the safe was stolen. So, he thought he would test the water and called Jones, asking him to come to his house on 18 October. When he turned up, Ben accused Jones of stealing the safe which he emphatically denied. Ben didn’t believe him and told him that there was a CCTV camera outside the home of his neighbours, the Broadhead’s, who lived at number fifty-five. He told Jones that the family were currently away on holiday but were due back in the next few days. When they returned, he would check that CCTV which would show very clearly who had broken into his home.
As Jones left Ben’s home, CCTV showed him very clearly look up at the Broadhead’s home where he would have clocked the CCTV camera pointing very clearly at Ben’s house.
Detectives put it to Jones that he had set fire to the Broadhead’s home to destroy the evidence from the CCTV camera which would show he had stolen his friend’s safe. But Jones wasn’t having any of it saying that he had had no involvement and that he had no idea who had stolen the safe or set fire to the Broadhead family home.
But detectives didn’t believe him, and they tracked his movements on the night of the fire. On the night of the 18th of October, he had made searches for massage parlours in the local area. And in the early hours of the morning of 19 October, he left his home and filled up his van with diesel at a local Esso petrol station. From there he went to the infamous Winstons massage parlour, on Dewsbury Road, Leeds. He explained this to police by saying that, I quote, “did not want to gamble a load of money that I had been paid the previous evening and I had time to kill.”
One he was done ahem, killing time, at Winstons, he went on to another petrol station. This time he filled up two containers from his van with petrol. He then headed for the street where the Broadhead’s lived, where once again he was clocked by CCTV. It clearly showed him walking up to their home and starting the fire at 4.17am before running back to his van and then driving away. There is no doubt that it was him. And his work van had a tracker that showed he had parked the vehicle on Aberford Road, a short walk from 55 Ash Crescent, between 3.28am and 4.22am on October 19
His personal devices showed his interest in what had happened as in the days after the fire, Jones used the internet to search for ‘Fire in Stanley Wakefield’ and he regularly checked local police sites as well as news channels. Despite being shown the clear evidence strongly suggesting his guilt, Jones still continued to deny having anything to do with the attack. But the police and CPS were happy they had enough to secure a conviction and Jones faced his day in court.
Jones stood in the dock where he denied two counts of murder, one count of arson with intent to endanger life and one count of burglary.
Opening the trial Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, told jurors: ‘I make it plain from the outset that Daniel Jones did not set fire to the Broadheads’ house because he had some sort of grudge against them. He did it because he wanted to destroy evidence of another crime that he had committed a few days earlier.’
When pressed on the initial burglary from his friend’s home, looking directly at the jury, Jones denied stealing the safe. He said he enjoyed drugs from time to time, regularly smoking cannabis and occasionally using ketamine and cocaine, but said he didn’t have a drug problem. His gambling was more of an issue however and he told the court that he had been to Gamblers Anonymous meetings and was planning to declare himself bankrupt because the debt he was in was piling up.
In his trial, he was pressed on a number of the inconsistencies that he had told the police in interviews. He was asked about the tracker in his work van which showed he was nearby at the time the fire was started, but he had told police that he was asleep at his dad’s house a few miles away. When he was asked about this in court, he admitted he had lied saying: “I panicked with the interviews. I’d never been in that situation before, the night before I’d been out all night and not slept. I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I just panicked at the time.”
Jamie Hill QC, defending, followed up by asking him: “Were you lying because you are guilty of any of those offences?” Jones answered: “No, not at all.”
The prosecution then moved on the Jones buying petrol after his trip to Winston’s. The court was shown CCTV footage of Jones buying 3.75 litres of petrol at a garage in Leeds shortly before he made his way to Stanley, where the fire was started. He told the jury that he had a simple explanation for stopping for petrol in the early hours of the morning, which was it was for a friend of his who had a motorbike. Under cover of night, he had agreed to help this pal move his bike and also get some cannabis plants from a field – which couldn’t be done during the day. He continued that he had waited for his friend who didn’t ever show up, which is when he went back to his dad’s house to sleep. In cross-examination, the prosecuting QC revealed to the court that Jones’s friend said he did not own a motorbike at the time claimed by Jones. He went on to say that Jones’s story was clearly utter nonsense, and he had only made up the details of the story once he had heard the prosecution evidence against him. He added: “You waited for the Crown to produce all its evidence. It’s then, and only then, that you started devising a story that will fit it.”
He was then asked about the CCTV evidence which showed him to be at the scene at the time the fire was started. This time Jones had a simple explanation telling the jury that was purely a matter of coincidence that he left the area of the fire just moments after emergency services were called at 4.20am. As for the specific CCTV which showed him at Ash Crescent, he categorically denied that CCTV footage of a person seen in Ash Crescent that morning was him.
Finally, when asked about the internet searches he had carried out the day following the fire, he again said there was a perfectly innocent explanation. He told the court that as someone who lived locally, he was just interested in all local news including this dreadful fire.
I think it is fair to say that Jones was a less than credible witness and his grasp of the truth seemed to be a very tenuous one. I seem to criticise defence lawyers most weeks for being disingenuous, but you can’t say that about his defence team.
I make no apologies for the incredibly moving and emotional statements that follow from Sara Broadhead and her daughter Mia. Sometimes with true crime we think of those affected as just pictures online or in our papers – not real people almost – but the events we have heard today were brutally real and had lasting effects, which are best captured with what I am about to say. So, I am going to share the two short statements with you.
An incredibly brave thirteen-year-old Mia was fighting tears as she said:
“Since the fire I have suffered from nightmares and every time I tried to sleep upstairs it all came back to me. I start to panic and hear the sounds of the fire, the smell, the smoke and not being able to breathe. My daddy was the world’s greatest superhero, and he was my hero. It is too hard to say goodbye to my dad, so I say, ‘if I don’t see you through the week, I’ll see you in my dreams’.”
She also spoke about her sister Kiera, describing her as ‘the world’s brightest star and nobody will dull her sparkle’. She added: “I am thankful for the eight years we had with her – she didn’t deserve this, nether of them did. I love my sissy and I miss her so much.”
She was given a big hug by her proud mum who also read an emotional statement as Jones showed no emotion, just staring straight ahead. A visibly upset Sara, wearing a necklace that held her late husband’s wedding band, said the following:
“My little angel was one of a kind – her kindness always overwhelmed me. In her short eight years Kiera lived life to the full. This world is going to be a dull place without her smile and laughter, and I know she will live on in everybody’s hearts and memories.” Talking about her husband, Sara said: “He was loving, kind, honest and supportive.
“As well as being an amazing husband he was also a fantastic father.
“I can’t say goodbye to him because that makes it final.
“Instead, I say ‘see you in a bit’ because one day we will be together again.”
At the end of the thirteen-day trial, there was a hush as the jury returned with their verdict after deliberating for three hours. They found Jones guilty of two counts of manslaughter but cleared him of murder. The jury also found Jones guilty of one count of burglary in relation to the theft of his friend’s safe.
The Judge sentenced Jones to twenty years in prison and told him:
“It is hard to imagine the horror of the catastrophic events of that night – what Andrew and Kiera must have endured and the pain and anguish that Sara and Mia still have to endure. They have to live not only with the trauma of the events that night but with their devastating loss. Cases of death through arson are particularly horrific and the seriousness is very grave.
“You did not intend to cause their death or serious harm to them – you did not know they were not home when you set light to the house. However, I have no doubt that when setting light to number 55 you were guilty of seriously reckless conduct that foreseeably carried the risk of causing death or serious injury. You have caused the death of two people and enormous pain and suffering to Sara and Mia Broadhead and their wider family. “You continue to deny that you committed these offences and have shown no remorse for your actions. What is more, you have sought to mislead the court by concocting and fabricating evidence in your efforts to deny responsibility.”
With this Jones was taken down to the cells to begin his sentence.
And one last point to finish the story. The cctv on the Broadhead’s house wasn’t working at the time of the fire. So, there was never any point for Jones in trying to destroy the evidence.
Det Ch Insp Nicola Bryar, of West Yorkshire Police, said the crime had shocked “the whole of West Yorkshire”.
“It is difficult to know where to start to describe the sheer madness and callousness of Jones’s actions in trying to cover up a burglary by setting fire to a family home,” she said.
“It is no exaggeration to say he has left the Broadhead family facing a lifetime of loss.”
So, what do you make of what we have heard today?
Have you ever been to the scene of a house fire the morning after a blaze where people have died. Unfortunately, I have been on two occasions and what struck me the most was the quiet. Flowers are outside paying tribute to those who have died but the scene is one of quiet, so different to the chaos, noise and heat of the previous night. And there is something about fire that terrifies us all, I think.
I wonder if you believe that manslaughter was the right verdict in this case or should it have been murder. When Jones had been confronted about the safe at his friend’s house there were no lights on in the Broadhead house. But when he poured that petrol through the letterbox and started the fire, there was a light. Had he suspected the family might have returned but gone ahead anyway? And also, if you carry out an act like this on a house when you have no certain knowledge as to whether the home is occupied or not at the time can ever be seen as anything other than murder? A number of comments about this case I have read say they are surprised that the verdict of murder wasn’t the one the jury found. But as always, it is hard for us to say when we weren’t in court and not able to hear all the evidence.
In this case, one thing that really hit me is that Sara and Andrew were both together in bed and then in the hallway. It is just so utterly tragic that Andrew and his daughter were unable to take a similar path to escape the blaze, but the smoke by this time was intense. Neighbour tried to enter the house to help but were unable to make progress sue to the smoke. And when firefighters were finally able to make progress to where they were it was too late, and both were declared dead at the scene.
What is there to say about Jones? I guess that he was a petty criminal who took an extreme action to destroy what he thought was evidence. And although he didn’t believe – it seems – that the family were home, he is still responsible for the two deaths and many other devastated lived. He has, of course, also ruined his own life – and he too, you will recall, is a father. What I really have no time for is that even in court putting family and friends through the ordeal that he couldn’t even then just do the right things, admit his guilt and say sorry. Very poor, but then do we expect any better from what we have heard. Once again, as you listen to this podcast, Jones will be in his cell where he has a lot of time to reflect on his actions. You may well think that twenty years is not enough for his crime, and I tend to agree. But then again, the reality is that nothing will ever be enough for his actions.
I sometimes get criticised for using the personal statement made in courts by those affected by crime. But I always think they are powerful in making the story real and that is never truer than today. It is impossible for us to know what Sara, Mia their family and friends went through and continue to experience. I urge you if you haven’t already to do an internet search on Kiera and her innocent face and heart-melting smile. And yet due to the actions of Jones, all those times she should have been able to enjoy with her family and friends – the birthdays, Christmases and other occasions – were taken away in just a matter of seconds. And for what….
This story was originally released as episode 426 of the UK True Crime Podcast. The following sources were used:
https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-41670975
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/serial-gambler-murdered-father-daughter-11297355
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5066885/Burglar-jailed-20-years.html
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gambling-addict-jailed-20-years-11493676
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-41931731
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4994096/Man-killed-two-house-fire-guilty-manslaughter.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4661095/wakefield-arson-house-fire-victims-mum-trial/