Man who set fire to girlfriend in Skegness jailed for murder
A man whose girlfriend died two years after he set her on fire has been jailed for life for her murder.
Leigh Pateman doused 41-year-old Ellen Marshall in petrol as she sat in a chair during an argument at their home in Firbeck Avenue, Skegness, in April 2021, before setting her alight.
Pateman, 45, was jailed in March 2022 for 17 years and 10 months after he admitted causing the mother-of-four grievous bodily harm with intent.
But the Crown Prosecution Service brought a murder charge after Ms Marshall died aged 43 nearly two years after the attack.
Pateman, who pleaded guilty last month, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday via a video link from HMP Garth.
Wearing a black and white t-shirt, he spoke only to confirm his name and showed little emotion as he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 27 years, of which he has already served more than three years.
Judge Hirst told Pateman the attack had been planned and was part of a pattern of "terrifying" Ms Marshall in the weeks before it happened.
He said: "Ms Marshall endured the most excrutiating pain and suffering from the injuries you inflicted upon her."
The court heard distressing details of the scene which met fire crews who were called to the couple's shared house in Firbeck Avenue by a neighbour at around 10.30pm on 22 April 2021.
Once inside, they found the living room covered in black smoke. Ms Marshall, who was originally from Nottingham, was writhing around in "extreme pain".
"There was little hair left on her head," Prosecutor Sarah Knight said. "Her face was so badly burnt and scorched it was difficult to make out her facial features.
"Her body was scorched where her clothes would have been."
Ms Marshall managed to give her name and age, and initially claimed to have caused the injuries herself.
Miss Knight said it was clear at that stage Ms Marshall was still trying to protect Pateman.
One neighbour described hearing Pateman saying "he had set fire to her." Another neighbour heard Ms Marshall screaming and saw Pateman carrying sauces of water to put on Ms Marshall.
Pateman was seen cycling away as the fire crews arrived.
Ms Marshall suffered burns to her face, neck, abdomen, chest and limbs, lost several fingers and sustained serious eye injuries in the attack.
She had suffered 80% burns and was taken to Nottingham City Hospital, before being transferred to a specialist burns unit.
Miss Knight said Pateman had made a previous threat to set his partner on fire and had kept the petrol at his property, but she did not believe him.
A neighbour confirmed she had overheard Pateman threatening to set Ms Marshall "a light" several weeks earlier, and a fire reconstruction expert concluded the blaze had been deliberately started using an accelerant.
Pateman was found at his mother's house, where he had gone to bed, covered in soot.
He was arrested and treated for burns before being taken into police custody.
Miss Knight said Ms Marshall was repeatedly re-admitted to the specialist burns unit at Nottingham City Hospital and finally died from pneumonia on 11 March 2023.
Two medical experts concluded the longstanding burns suffered by Ms Marshall contributed to her early death.
"For two years she had that to cope with in her life," Miss Knight added.
An impact statement from Ms Marshall's daughter, Paige Clarke, described how despite her burns Ms Marshall kept fighting to be a mother to her four children one day hoped to hold her first grandchild.
But Ms Clarke added "that day will now never come."
"She became weaker and weaker as the days went by, but even then she was so strong of heart," Ms Clarke said.
"The physical, mental and emotional pain that my mother had to go through is almost impossible to put into words," Miss Clarke said.
"She could not bare to look at herself for a year."
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