'Squeezy bottle' of ignited petrol squirted through home's letter box with terrified family inside

Two 18-year-olds set fire to a Stockton home while a couple and their grandson were inside.

Jayden Carr and Harvey Colligan, subjected a family to a petrifying late night attack on May 2, last year. Using a "squeezy bottle" Carr poured petrol through the letterbox of the house on Hawthorne Road. He set the fuel alight and smashed a front window.

Harvey Colligan waited in the street on his Honda motorcycle and the two sped off, seconds later, only to crash a few streets away. The petrified couple saw flames before hearing a bang. One of them was covered in shattered glass, whilst the other put the fire out with water.

In a statement, the victims said: "They intended to kill us because they did the front door first, so we couldn't get out." Harvey Colligan was arrested when he crashed his motorbike, but Carr fled the scene. He was arrested on May 27, after police found his blood on the door frame of the house; and his DNA on the discarded drink bottle.

Separate attack on another home

Teesside Crown Court heard that days later, in a separate incident, Carr, along with accomplices Ryan Jones, 20, and Tyler Colligan, 20, who is Harvey Colligan's brother - smashed up a woman's home. The victim had left her house on The Heath in Norton, where she lives with her three children, out of fears for her family's safety.

Days earlier, her workplace - a salon - had been targeted "as a result of a dispute between criminal gangs."

CCTV captured a Range Rover arrive at the house at 9.20pm on May 5, last year, and the three man - all in balaclavas - got out. They smashed her front door open and smashed windows; destroyed a large TV and her furniture, before targeting a scrap car she had left in the driveway.

Carr used an axe and Jones and Tyler Colligan were armed with machetes. The driver of the Range Rover, who has not been identified, can be seen on the footage beeping at them to "hurry up" as he waited to make a getaway.

A statement by the woman who lives in the house read: "I don't feel safe in my house - I am here with panic alarms fitted. I'm worried they'll come back and set fire to the house. My three children are sleeping with fire extinguishers under their beds."

Jayden Carr

When Carr, of Derby Terrace, Thornaby, was arrested, he had 15 rocks of crack cocaine on him, worth £300; £500 in cash and some cannabis. He later pleaded guilty to:

• arson with intent to endanger life;
• criminal damage;
• possession of a class A drug with intent to supply;
• possession of a class B drug.

In mitigation, Carr's barrister David Ward said he endured a "difficult upbringing" and he started taking drugs at the age of 14. Mr Ward said: "He said he was 'full of tablets' when he carried out the arson - he's desperate to fit in. He's desperate for direction - and he takes it from the wrong people."

Judge Francis Laird sentenced Carr to nine years in a young offenders' institution.

Ryan Jones

Ryan Jones, of Newport Way in Stockton, pleaded guilty to:

• aggravated burglary,
• possession of a bladed article.

He has a previous conviction for the possession of a loaded air weapon and aggravated burglary. The court heard that he had left care with no support and "where everybody he had been close to, didn't keep in touch."

Jones was sentenced to 45 months in a young offenders' institution.

Harvey Colligan

Harvey Colligan admitted:

• arson with intent to endanger life,
• driving whilst disqualified,
• driving with no insurance.

He has previous convictions for grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. The court heard that he has spent the last year in prison on remand, and that he wasn't allowed out to attend his mother's funeral last year. He was sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution.

Tyler Colligan

Tyler Colligan, who gave his address at Holme House prison, admitted:

• aggravated burglary,
• possession of a bladed article.

He will be sentenced on July 11.

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