'Cowardly' pair jailed over fatal arson attack

Two men have been jailed over a fatal arson attack at the home of a man targeted for his links to a woman who was known to one of the convicted pair.

Stephen Dale and Tyler Phythian poured petrol on the entrance of Daniel Gardner's flat in Birmingham in September and set it alight, causing a blaze so intense a neighbour's front door also caught fire. Gardner, 36, could not escape, police said.

Dale, 47, had been in a relationship with Mr Gardner's ex-partner at the time and saw him as a "significant problem", police added.

At Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, he was sentenced to 24 years for manslaughter and arson with intent. Phythian, 19, was jailed for four years for arson with intent.

The West Midlands force said Gardner and his former partner were still in touch as she was the mother of his two children, but Dale did not approve and "felt he had to act".

Dale, from Birmingham, persuaded friend and neighbour Phythian to travel with him in a taxi to a petrol station on Shirley High Street, just after midnight on 19 September.

They filled up a petrol cannister before taking a taxi back to the Highters Heath area, where Mr Gardner lived, and walked to his flat on Saxons Way.

A large flash at the property was captured on CCTV with the pair seen running away. Phythian held on to the petrol can and one of Dale's feet was on fire.

Dale told his partner the following day that the incident was "nothing to do with me" but asked her to let him listen in when police were updating her on the investigation.

Police said Phythian told an associate: "We didn't go to kill. We went to set his car on fire. My man changed his mind in the last second."

Both men, of Cherrywood Road, were convicted of the charges in April this year.

Det Insp Ade George, who led the investigation, said it was a "cowardly attack" on a man in his own home in the middle of night, which has left two children without a father.

"Dale and Phythian knew that Mr Gardner would have been in, as his car was parked outside.

"Both had been involved in buying the petrol, and they stayed together throughout. They ran away together, pausing only to try to burn the petrol can they had purchased. Quite simply, they were in it together."

Gardner's family paid tribute to him after his death saying their "hearts would always be broken".

"Words cannot describe the unbearable pain and devastation we all feel.

"You gave everything and never expected anything in return."

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