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Manchester man found guilty of murdering sister (4 April 2017)

Date: 04/04/2017
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Manchester man found guilty of murdering sister

Manchester Crown Court has convicted a 50-year-old man of murdering his sister at her home in Surbiton Road, Newton Heath, northeast Manchester on 29 February 2016.

The court heard that Stephen Archer poured accelerant over his sister, Julie Archer, and set her on fire in the living room of her home.

She fled the house and was treated by paramedics in the front garden. However, she was found to have sustained more than 95% burns to her body in the attack. Ms Archer never regained consciousness and died in hospital three days after the incident.

The fire also spread to the rest of the house, causing Ms Archer’s daughter to jump out of an upstairs window to safety – but the family dog died in the fire.

Stephen Archer was arrested by Greater Manchester Police on 4 March 2016, while he was travelling on a train from Piccadilly in Manchester to Marple in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Deputy Head of Crown Court Prosecutions for North West CPS, Kirsty Walls, said:

“This is a tragic case in which Stephen Archer killed his sister only a matter of weeks after two other family members had sadly passed away. It was the prosecution case that he went to her house armed with a cocktail of petrol mixed with mineral spirit, with the intent to cause her serious harm –and he did so while his niece was upstairs in the house.

“Evidence presented at the trial showed how he had posted abusive messages on social media, implying that his sisters had killed their father and uncle – and he made threats against them. After making initial comments to the police that he had intended to maim his sister, he then claimed he had been acting in self-defence when he threw a glass of petrol at her – and that the ignition of the petrol had been a freak accident.

“However, today after carefully considering the evidence against him, the jury has accepted the prosecution case and found him guilty of murder. I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the remaining members of the Archer family and their friends – our thoughts are very much with them at this time.”


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