Fireball horror as Rowley Regis woman set ablaze
A woman allegedly set alight by her ex-boyfriend on the doorstep of her Black Country home burned 'like a fireball', a jury has been told.
Damion Sheldon, aged 42, is accused of pouring petrol on Louise Pilkington outside her home in Rowley Regis.
Mr Hugh O'Brien Quinn, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court that he had then set Miss Pilkington alight.
Sheldon, of Russells Hall Road, Dudley, denies attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Miss Pilkington suffered burns to 16 per cent of her body. She told the court: "When I was rolling around on the floor I was screaming for help. Before I dropped to the floor I could see myself in her window. My hair was on fire. It was pain like I'd never felt."
Mr O'Brien Quinn told the jury Miss Pilkington and Sheldon had broken up just a few months before the incident but he had difficulty accepting this. On December 1 he had been drinking cider with a friend after leaving a number of messages on Miss Pilkington's phone, Mr O'Brien Quinn, told the court.
In the early hours of the next day, Sheldon had gone to her house on Haden Walk in Rowley Regis and started to pour petrol through her letterbox.
Her dog had started barking and she had come to the front door to see what was going on. She opened the door to see Sheldon standing outside with the can of petrol.
Mr O'Brien Quinn added: "She tried to push him away and shouted for help.
"He then poured the petrol over her head and upper body. Having covered her with the petrol, he deliberately set her alight."
Miss Pilkington then tore off her pyjamas and rolled on the grass outside the house in a desperate attempt to douse the flames as neighbours gathered to try to help.
Mr O'Brien Quinn told the jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court that one of the neighbours had since described the scene, saying: "Louise was naked and she just looked like a fireball. It was horrendous."
The trial continues.
