News | Murder trial


downsmail.co.uk Bale to save blaze victim


AS SIMONChilds begins a life sentence for killing hismother-in-lawby setting fire to the fam- ily home, Jade Schopman reports on the lives rocked by his terrible crime.


TERRIFIED Mandy Childs mes- saged friends to check on her home, unaware her jealous ex had torched the property while her motherwas trapped inside. JacquelineAllen had alerted her


daughter and the police from an upstairs bedroom after hearing Simon Childs break into the house in Spitfire Road, West Malling, last November. Mandy immediately contacted


neighbour and friend Jen Seal, in a desperate bid to establish what was happening. Jen told Downs Mail: “Mandy


messaged me to see if I was at home, but I said I’d be at least five minutes because Iwas onmyway home fromwork. “She said there have been ‘loads


of things going on’ and that the policewere on theirway.” Even as the friends were ex-


changing franticmessages,Maid- stone Crown Court heard that Childs was starting a blaze that was to kill Jacqueline and the fam- ily’s pet dog, Jessie. Jen,who headed straight for the house, recalled the horrific scene


thatmet her as she pulled into the street. She said: “I drove round the


corner and saw the house in flames. “I heard screaming and there


was a lot of commotion out on the street with policemen and neigh- bours. “Afewmale neighbours tried to


smash the door down and even- tually did. “The whole community really


came together, but nobody could believewhat had happened.” Jen (54) recalled Jacqueline as “a


lovely lady”who “never did any- one harm”. “I have lived here for over 40 years,” she said. “Jackie always


Events that led to fatal fire


DURING Simon Childs’ three- week trial, Maidstone Crown Court heard of a catalogue of threats and harassment levelled atMandy. These included:


October 25 Childs tries to enter the home in Spitfire Road and is caught trying to climb a lad- der to get in through an up- stairswindow. The court hears this is the same route he later took to set fire to the house with JacquelineAllen inside.


October 28Mandy receives 19 textmessages fromChilds. He is asking to come round and collect his belongings. He says hewants her back.


November 1Mandy finds a threatening note on her gate and immediately recognises the handwriting as Childs. The note reads: “Iwill tell him everything. I amwatching you. He doesn’t deserve that.” The note refers toMandy’s friend- shipwith Childs’ distant


4 Malling June 2019


November 5 Childs pleads guilty to two charges of assault- ingMandy. He is ordered not to contact her or enter the fam- ily home in Spitfire Road. On the same day, she files a four- year restraining order against himto protect her fromharass- ment and harm.


Simon Childs cousin, Rory Clarke.


November 2Mandy,while looking through the kitchen window, sees an armreach over the gate. She recognises the high-vis jacket and orange gloves. Childs is arrested and released on bail.


November 16 Childs contacts Mandy on several occasions using a second phonewith an unknown number. He initially pretends to be someone else, but themessages soon turn abusive and sexual.Mandy calls 101 to report themessages after she receives a onewhich reads: “Wewill bewatching you. Youwill dowhatwe say. If you go to the police you’ll onlymake itworse for your- self.”


November 17 Police attend a blaze at the family home in Spitfire Roadwith Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Jacqueline Allen is later pronounced dead.


Neighbour Jen Seal outside the house in Spitfire Road, where Jacqueline Allen died in a fire started by Simon Childs, the ex-husband of her daughter


used to say hello. “I also knew Mandy well, she


used to be friends withmy sister, so I know how close she was to hermum. “Jackie and Mandy were al-


ways together, theywere so close. Jackiewas a really goodmother. “It is devastating,what has hap- pened. It is so sad for everyone.”


‘My dad is an innocentman’


PEST controller Simon Childs protested his innocence through- out the trial. He told police that he had been


sitting in his van smoking cannabis


in


H u r r i c a n e Close, West Malling, when the fatal fire started in Spit- fire Road. And, follow-


ing the guilty verdict at Maidstone Crown Court, members of his family vowed to fight to clear his name. DaughterCharmaine (pictured)


told TV crews: “My dad is an in- nocent man, he would not try to murder anybody. “All the family are going to suf-


fer because my dad is in jail and this is nowhaunting us. They (the jury) have only


judged it (the case) by his state- ment at the police station, and I think it’s totallywrong. “When I heard the verdict, I can’t explain howI felt.Awful.”


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