Schoolboy's 'skip prison set alight'
A 15-year-old schoolboy was killed after he was locked in an enclosed skip which was then set alight, a court heard today.
Popular pupil Michael Temperley, of Oakwood Avenue, Low Fell, Gateshead, suffered 30% burns and the effects of inhaling smoke during the blaze which happened at a retail park near his home in July last year.
A 15-year-old boy is accused of Michael's manslaughter and a count of false imprisonment. A 16-year-old faces a single count of false imprisonment. The teenagers, appearing at Newcastle Crown Court, cannot be named for legal reasons.
The jury was told both youths locked Michael in the waste container which was 80% full of wood and cardboard from the Durham Pine furniture outlet on the Team Valley Retail Park.
The area was popular with young bike riders who used scrap wood from skips to make ramps.
The defendants were said to have thrown his baseball cap and bike into the skip, to lure him in, before locking it shut with a bolt on a chain.
The younger boy was alleged to have asked his companion: "Shall I light a bit of paper and hoy (throw) it in?
Brian Forster QC, prosecuting, said the youth then used his lighter to burn some paper which was thrown into the skip, and the contents quickly caught fire.
Witnesses said foot-long flames were coming from a gap in the container and thick smoke was billowing out.
Michael could not breathe and started shouting for help.
The boys and then passers-by tried to open the container door.
It took the arrival of the Fire Brigade to open the mechanism, Mr Forster told the jury.
The 15-year-old defendant was alleged to have told police they were just having "fun" had not thought about the risks.
He told police Michael was smoking when the blaze began but Mr Forster said fire experts had ruled out a cigarette as the cause.
The dead boy, described in court as a bright, enthusiastic, fit and popular pupil at Joseph Swan school, died in Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the early hours of July 15.
Both defendants, who were not in the dock but were allowed to sit with parents at the back of court number one, deny the charges.
Mr Forster said: "The prosecution do not say (the 15-year-old defendant) intended to kill Michael Temperley. If we were saying that, the allegation would be murder."
