Men left twin sisters to die in blazing barn, court told

THREE men left twin sisters to die in a blazing barn after taking them there to have sexual intercourse, Bristol Crown Court was told yesterday.

They fled from the burning building 'almost without as much as a singe' - but did nothing to save Rebecca and Emma Harper, aged 17, Paul Chadd QC, for the prosecution, said.

Two of the defendants heard a scream as they fled across fields but 'even that did not stop them', Mr Chadd told the jury.

Wisdom Smith and Daniel Winter, both 19, and David Harper, 20, who is not related to the girls, deny the manslaughter of Rebecca and Emma, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, at the barn at Manor Farm at nearby Uckington early on 24 January last year. Mr Smith, of Bishop's Cleeve, near Cheltenham; Mr Winter, of Albermarle Gate, Cheltenham; and Mr Harper, of Uckington, also deny a joint charge of arson.

Mr Chadd said it was not suggested they intended to kill the girls or cause them serious harm. 'But they were criminally reckless in what they did with matches, bits of lit hay and what they did with bales that were smouldering.'

The jury was told that it was not until the afternoon of the day of the blaze that firefighters found small pieces of human remains in the burnt-out barn.

The three men and the girls went to the barn from a pub by taxi just after midnight. By 1.10am the building was an 'inferno', Mr Chadd said. The men climbed up into the bales, and it was suggested by one or other of the defendants that Mr Harper lit a corner of a bale of hay to see around better. Mr Harper settled down with Rebecca on bales about six feet from the ground, he said. Emma was six feet further up with Mr Smith and Mr Winter.

Smouldering became visible at the higher level. One or other of the defendants dislodged a bale to get at the smouldering, and one of the two or three bales thrown to the barn floor broke open. 'How these girls came not to get out I do not know,' Mr Chadd said. 'One cannot have been more than six feet above the ground.'

He added that the defendants 'left the scene of this fire knowing the girls were inside'.

The case continues.