'Stoned' teen who started fire that killed 4 kids has open prison bid blocked

25 February 2024 , 10:42

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Smirking Dyson Allen in his mugshot photograph (Image: PA)

A teen arsonist who set a property ablaze and killed four siblings while high on drugs has been refused his request to move to an open prison.

Dyson Allen was jailed for life after nearly wiping out the whole family at their home in Freckleton, Lancashire in January 2012. But despite only serving a short portion of his sentence, he was told in April last year that he could be transferred to open conditions following a Parole Board hearing.

However, during the 28-day appeal window, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk stepped in to shut down the move because he feared Allen was still too dangerous for the relaxed security conditions. The move is usually the next step on the way to being released on licence. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Public protection is our number one priority which is why we blocked Dyson Allen's transfer to open prison."

The blaze claimed the lives of four-year-old twin sisters Holly and Ella Smith, their two-year-old brother Jordan, and the eldest brother Reece, 19, who died while trying to save his young siblings. Tragically, the younger children died while still sleeping in their beds.

Jordan Smith, 2, (front) and twins Holly and Ella Smith, 4, (in pink) who died in a house fire in Lytham Road, Freckleton, Lancashire (PA)

A pathologist ruled that all four died as a result of smoke inhalation. At the time, their mother Michelle Smith was holding a frenzied drug party for her 36th birthday. At Preston Crown Court in 2013, Allen, who was 19 at the time, was cleared of murder but convicted of four counts of manslaughter and sentenced to a minimum term of nine years and three months.

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A completely gutted wardrobe in a charred room in the property (PA)

Allen was about to smoke from his cannabis pipe when the blaze erupted (Daily Mirror)

The 19-year-old is said to have been boozing since the afternoon, and was about to light a cannabis pipe when the blaze erupted in a bedroom in the bungalow. When the verdict was read out in court, one woman linked to the arsonist yelled: "It's all her fault. If she had not had that party, none of this would have happened".

Neil Flewitt QC told Preston Crown Court that partygoers had spent the day drinking and smoking weed. "As a result, the recollection of most of the witnesses is affected, by some extent, by drink and in some cases by drugs in the form of cannabis," he said.

Mother Michelle Smith on the day of her childrens' funerals (Daily Mirror)

The mechanic was a friend of the family and was one of the teens that Michelle allowed to smoke cannabis in an outside building on her property known as "the chamber". Michelle was alerted of the blaze when Allen raced downstairs shouting "Fire". It was at this point that Reece desperately tried to rescue his siblings. Though smoke alarms had been fitted, Reece took them down a few days prior after they "kept making beeping noises".

Holly and Emma Smith (PA)

In his witness statement, Allen explained he went upstairs and saw the lights suddenly go out. Then he saw that the kids' door was shut, but that he could see an orange glow from behind the door. "I opened the door to check and all of a sudden thick black smoke just hit me in the face," he said. "It knocked me backwards. I started shouting ''fire, fire'' straight away."

Ryan Fahey