{"id":6014,"date":"2025-06-02T21:44:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T21:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2025-06-03T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T11:35:09","slug":"teens-who-killed-pensioner-with-fireworks-and-ran-off-laughing-are-jailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/02\/teens-who-killed-pensioner-with-fireworks-and-ran-off-laughing-are-jailed\/","title":{"rendered":"Teens who killed pensioner with fireworks and ran off laughing are jailed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nathan Otitodilchukwu, 18, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named were jailed this week (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two teenagers who started a fire which killed a pensioner by setting off fireworks in his house have been jailed for manslaughter.<\/p>\n

Robert Price, 76, had been tormented for years by local youths who harassed him and regularly smashed the windows of his house in Dagenham, east London<\/a>, until he boarded them up.<\/p>\n

Nathan Otitodilchukwu, 18, and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, approached Mr Price’s home in July last year after filming themselves launching a firework into a lake.<\/p>\n

They entered the front garden where the younger boy climbed onto the gas meter box and punched a hole above the boarded-up part of the window before pushing the lit firework through.<\/p>\n

Otitodilchukwu was heard on doorbell cam footage saying: ‘Gonna f***ing torch this n*****’, ‘yo, you f***ing paedo’, ‘yo you f***ing d***head’ ‘ ‘We are gonna f**k you up,’ before running away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a><\/strong> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> <\/strong>alerts the moment it happens.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Prosecutors told the court: ‘A loud bang can be heard, followed by high-pitched laughing as the group run away.’<\/p>\n

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Footage from nearby CCTV showed the boys feeding the firework into Mr Price’s house (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Minutes later, smoke could be seen coming out of the window, before flames and black smoke began to billow from inside.<\/p>\n

A neighbour tried to get into the house to rescue Mr Price but the door was locked.<\/p>\n

Firefighters forced their way in and put out the fire but the 76-year-old could not be saved.<\/p>\n

Otitodilchukwu was jailed for six years and the 16-year-old was sentenced to two years and eight months in custody.<\/p>\n

Mr Price’s family said he was a ‘kind’ and ‘generous’ man, though a friend of 10 years said some people found him ‘hard to get along with’ as he was socially awkward.<\/p>\n

The friend said Mr Price would rarely leave his house because ‘kids would disturb him’. <\/p>\n

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Robert Price, 76, had been targeted by yobs in Dagenham, east London<\/a>, for years leading up to the fatal attack last July (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘This would happen all the time and they would make his life hell,’ Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, said.<\/p>\n

Only three days before the pensioner’s death, a brick had been launched through his window.<\/p>\n

Otitodilchukwu, who was living in a care home in Romford, returned that evening and told a support worker ‘I’m going to do 20 years in jail’, the court heard.<\/p>\n

A few days later he asked a woman if she’d heard about the fire and said: ‘If anyone asks, don’t say I was in Dagenham.’<\/p>\n

When asked why he said: ‘Maybe I started the fire with a firework.’<\/p>\n

Judge Rebecca Trowler, who sentenced the pair this week, said it was clear they both intended to harm Mr Price.<\/p>\n

She accepted that the younger teen had expressed ‘remorse’ and may have been ‘encouraged’ by Otitodilchukwu, who she said had ‘poor impulse control’ and a ‘lack of appreciation of the impact on others’.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nathan Otitodilchukwu, 18, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named were jailed this week (Picture: PA) Two teenagers who started a fire which killed a pensioner by setting off<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Teens who killed pensioner with fireworks and ran off laughing are jailed<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6014"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6020,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions\/6020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}