Man who set fire to woman in car park accused of her murder - 24 years later

A man who set fire to his girlfriend is on trial accused of her murder - 24 years after the attack.

Steven Paul Craig poured petrol over Jacqueline Kirk before setting her on fire at Dolphin Square in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on 18 April 1998.

The 57-year-old was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm in 2000 and has since served his punishment.

Ms Kirk suffered severe burns affecting 35% of her body - including her face, neck, chest, torso, thighs and buttocks.

On 23 August 2019, Ms Kirk died in hospital with a ruptured diaphragm. She was 62 years old.

Craig has since been charged with her murder.

During the opening of his trial at Bristol Crown Court today (Monday 10 October), prosecutors argued her 1998 injuries played a “significant” part in her death years later.

Prosecutor Mr Smith told the jury: “In 1998, this defendant attacked a woman by pouring petrol over her and setting her alight with a flame.

“The injuries inflicted were of great significance as a result of his actions.

“However, at that time the victim survived.

“As a result, the defendant was tried and punished for what he had then done.

“But the story does not end there.

“Many years later, the injured woman died as a result in part of the injuries that this defendant had inflicted on this victim.

“Therefore, we say that good sense and the law says that this defendant should be accountable for the full consequences of what he did.

“The prosecution say that this defendant can be described as having murdered the victim.”

He added: “The sole issue in this case is whether or not the injuries inflicted by the defendant did contribute to her death.

“The defence say this is simply not certain.”

Mr Smith said the main way in which the burns caused by Craig contributed to Ms Kirk’s death were that her skin could not stretch to accommodate the swelling of her intestines.

“The constriction, that ability to expand which would have been the case with normal skin, played a part in the rupture of the diaphragm which led to fatal consequences,” he said.

“The second part, members of the jury, is that her condition as a result of the injuries played a part in the decision not to intervene with the operation to try to repair the diaphragm and attempt at least to save her life.

“These two factors played a more than minimal part, a significant part, in contributing to her tragic death in 2019.

“We don’t suggest these are the only reasons for the complex medical situation in which she died, but they played a part.”

Craig, of Brailsford Road, York, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder.

His defence lawyer, Christopher Tehrani KC, argued Ms Kirk's abdomen was only partly scarred and was "capable of stretching".

Mr Tehrani added that surgeons based their decision not to operate on her in part due to unrelated "co-morbidities", including a heart problem.

"We will submit that the investigation into the cause of Jacqueline Kirk's death was a complex and difficult one," he said.

"The prosecution's suggestion about the lack of stretching may not be correct.

"Although there's clear scarring to the chest and abdomen of Ms Kirk, this scarring is mainly at the front with scarring on the right side of the lower chest and upper abdomen.

"When you take into account areas that are not scarred this would have allowed sufficient stretching of Ms Kirk's abdomen.

"This rupture is likely to have occurred more likely than not in a person with no scarring."

Mrs Justice Stacey told jurors they must decide whether the burns Ms Kirk suffered "played a significant part in the cause of her death some 20 years later" and to "put emotion aside to judge the case on the evidence".

The trial continues.