Mother-of-two set fire to home as her children slept upstairs ‘because voices in her head told her to’ 

Aimee Griffiths, 30, (pictured) told her two children to lie down and go to sleep as she started the blaze at their home in Ruabon, Wrexham

A mother-of-two set fire to the home she was being evicted from in a bid to kill herself and her two young children after hearing voices.

Aimee Griffiths, 30, of Ruabon, Wrexham, told her two children to lie down and go to sleep as she started the blaze.

But her 10-year-old daughter ran out of the house as the fire began to spread and raised the alarm.

Heroically her neighbours - both in their sixties - were able to get Griffiths and her seven-year-old son out of the burning house despite Griffiths fighting to stay inside with the boy.

She was 'grabbed by the scruff of her neck' and dragged out - and even then tried to get back in.

Griffiths has now been jailed for five years and four months at Mold Crown Court after she admitted arson.

Judge David Hale told her that what she did in the early hours of August 27 last year 'defied belief'.

'You were clearly intent on killing yourself and your two little children,' he said. 'You were on that day, without doubt, in mental turmoil.'

The court heard she had been threatened with eviction and was not in a position to cope with a number of other pressures.

The judge said: 'The fact remains that you intended to kill your children and yourself by setting fire to the house.

'If it were not for the tenacity of your daughter, determined to live, you may well have succeeded.'

Judge Hale went on to praise the 'heroic intervention' of neighbours William and Eileen Bride.

'They are entitled to a most remarkable thanks from the community for what they did,' he said.

The judge said that while on remand at Styal Prison in Cheshire Griffiths had made 'remarkable progress which was all credit to her'.

The court heard Griffiths and her family had spent the previous afternoon playing bowls with her sister and friends.

Griffiths set fire to the house with her family inside shortly after being told she was facing eviction

But she ended up fighting with her sister while drinking wine before buying another bottle to drink at home which culminated in her starting a number of fires in the early hours of the morning.

John Philpotts, prosecuting, said Griffiths told the children to lie on the sofa and that 'everything would be all right'.

But her brave daughter refused and ran out of the house to the house next door, the home of Mr and Mrs Bride.

Mrs Bride, 62, tried to get into the house and shouted to Griffiths to come out, but Griffiths refused and demanded her daughter go back in.

Mr Bride, 66, got into the burning house through the back door, braving thick black smoke to find Griffiths holding her son.

The court heard she shouted at him to 'leave my kids alone' but he was able to grab the child and pulled her out of the house by the scruff of her neck.

Judge Hale praised the 'heroic intervention' of neighbours William and Eileen Bride (pictured)

Once outside, Griffiths had to be restrained from getting back in. The blaze caused £50,000 of damage to the semi-detached property.

The court heard that a week earlier Griffiths had been referred to the psychiatric ward at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Henry Hills, defending, said she had explained that voices were telling her to burn the house but she had been allowed home.

He said it was a tragic case and Griffiths had an appalling childhood. 

DC Mark Griffiths of Wrexham CID said: 'The sentence reflects the seriousness of the incident. Had it not been for the swift actions of neighbours, the events of that night could have ended tragically.

'I'd like to thank members of the public who assisted both on the night and during the course of this investigation which was both complex and distressing.'

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