A Manchester girl who suffered horrific burns in a triple fatal arson attack which killed her mum and teenage brother relived the tragedy at an inquest today.
Cailin Van Straaten was 18 when her mother’s jilted ex-boyfriend David Potts, 39, broke into her family home at 4am and deliberately set it alight in a bid to kill her entire family.
Cailin, her mother Tracy Jones, 41, and brother Shaun (pictured above), 15, woke to hear Potts smashing down the front door of their home in Broadheath near Altrincham.
The terrified family dashed out onto the landing only to see the killer wandering up the stairs armed with a fuel container and dousing the carpet with petrol as he climbed each step.
Miss Jones and her son Shaun tried to overpower Potts with a hammer but he flicked a cigarette lighter and engulfed them all in flames.
As the inferno took hold a neighbours pulled Tracy from the living room while Shaun staggered out with severe burns.
The teen died 48 hours later while the blaze claimed the life of Tracy two months later.
Cailin herself suffered severe burns to her body and feet but was pulled clear by a neighbour while the youngest child four-year-old Zach, who had been asleep in bed, was rescued by firemen and also suffered severe burns.
Potts himself died from his injuries on the night of the fire on September 19 2011. And now today, more than two years on, 20-year-old Cailin revealed how Potts turned at the house by taxi after a drinking session.
She told the Stockport hearing: ”I was woken by a loud banging noise so me, mum and Shaun went on to the landing and we saw Dave in the house.
“He was already inside the house at that point and he was holding a green plastic petrol container with a screw lid on and he came upstairs.
”He didn’t say anything to anybody. He walked back down the stairs and Shaun had gone to get a hammer to try to stop him.
“We followed him downstairs and at that point he poured petrol on himself and was dousing all the lower ground floor in petrol.
”Shaun tried to stop him with the hammer but it didn’t have any effect. I had my mobile and went up the stairs to ring for the fire brigade.
“Then I saw David had something in his hand which was a gas lighter and at that point he started the fire.
“We screamed at him to stop but he was dousing himself in petrol. Shaun and mum were trying to wrestle him – mum and Shaun were on him but at that point he just ignited.”
The Stockport hearing was told father-of-two Potts began dating former secretary Miss Jones in 2009 after splitting up with his wife following a stormy marriage.
But by 2011 their romance was punctuated by regular break-ups due to a deterioration in his behaviour which included an arrest for drink driving and for throwing a frying pan at his son and splashing hot oil in a girl’s face.
He had hoped to go on holiday with Miss Jones to Wales but social services, who had been alerted to Potts, intervened worried he was a threat to her and the children.
Cailin added: ”I had met David a couple of months before mum and from day one I raised concerns. I told mum he wasn’t right and to stay away from him.
”It was his alcohol and his attitude towards women and other people and his lack of respect for other people.
“He was aggressive and I found him to be creepy and he made comments about my physical appearance in a sexual way.
”I was wary of him. The first time I met him he was drunk and he was heavy-handed and clumsy.
”There was an incident when we were out in Manchester and Dave had Zach on his shoulders and crossed a dual carriageway behind a bus and he dropped Zach to the floor and he smashed his lip on the kerb.
”I wasn’t happy with mum going out with him – it was off and on soon after it started.
”There were times when she tried to break up with him but she couldn’t because David manipulated her and wouldn’t leave her alone. She was frightened of him when he was angry.
”The social workers warned mum of David’s history and they said he was a very dangerous man with a lot of mental illness.
“They said they didn’t agree with mum going on holiday because it was a huge risk going with David and even if she went without him there was a huge risk he would follow without her knowledge and cause a scene.
“Mum was very shocked but agreed with them and was willing to do what she could to protect the kids.
”She was scared because she knew he was capable of physically hurting the family. She had agreed to change the locks and agreed with me and Shaun to lose all contact with him. ”
Neighbour Robert Stevenson, who had known Potts for five years, told of a meeting 48 hours before the fire and said: “He was bending over to me and he said he was going to kill her.
“He said he was going to burn them. I guess I did know what he was talking about but I didn’t feel it was real.
“Tracy was very scared of him. I received about six texts from David around the 18th asking if she was seeing another man and they were getting worse.”
In the weeks before the fire, locks were changed at Tracy’s home and a police marker was placed on her address for an immediate response to any call for help.
Officers served a warning notice on Potts accusing him of harassment over text and phone messages.
But Potts left numerous messages on Facebook begging Tracy to take him back. He said how much he loved her ‘with all his heart’ claiming he couldn’t understand why she didn’t love him too.
Three hours before the fire he left a last post on his Facebook page saying goodbye to friends and family and apologising for his behaviour.
He wrote: “I used to be happy but now I am sad. I used to laugh but now I cry. I used to be someone, now I am no-one.”
Taxi driver Andrew Sullivan, who dropped off Potts in the minutes before the murders, said: “He looked unkept and scruffy and smelt of sweat, alcohol and cigarettes but I assumed he was going home. He didn’t seem agitated and I didn’t feel threatened.
”He told me to stop early and he would walk the rest of the way. He gave me a £2 tip.”
Cailin who was studying a BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design at South Trafford College is now living with a member of the congregation at her local church. Zach lives with his father in South Africa.
The hearing continues.
Picture courtesy of Facebook, with thanks.
