By Dean Kirby and Neal Keeling
The Manchester Evening News
MANCHESTER, England — A teenager charged with arson after a fireman died in a city centre blaze has walked free after the charge was dramatically dropped, three days before she was due to stand trial. A judge said she was ‘blameless’ as far as criminal law went but ‘guilty only of being careless’ after a court was told the fire was possibly caused by a discarded cigarette.
The 15-year-old was due in court on Monday at Manchester Crown Court to stand trial, accused of arson - reckless as to whether life endangered. But after a meeting of Crown lawyers, police, and the Crown Prosecution Service it was decided not to progress the case.
The girl was summonsed to court after firefighter Stephen Hunt died in a fire at Paul’s Hair World in the Northern Quarter. Mr Hunt, 38, a father-of-two, from Whitefield, Bury, was one of 60 firefighters who battled the shop blaze on July 13, 2013.
Full story: Teen girl ‘blameless’ over North Quarter blaze which killed firefighter Stephen Hunt, judge says