Father 'killed children in blaze rage'

A father killed his eight-year-old son and two teenage stepchildren in a house fire after he drunkenly accused his wife of flirting with a taxi driver, a court heard today.

Kevin Hargreaves, 38, flew into a rage at the children's mother when they returned home and then attempted to set himself alight with petrol, the court was told.

The blaze spread from the bedroom and rapidly engulfed the three-storey detached property in Beswick, Manchester, last July, a jury at Manchester Crown Court was told.

John Hargreaves, eight, and his stepbrother Jordan Swift, 14, died after they became trapped in a top-floor bedroom while Jordan's 19-year-old sister, Carly, also died after she dashed back into the house in the hope of saving the boys.