Rotherham human torch horror 'an accident'

A HUSBAND accused of murdering his wife by pouring white spirit over her and then setting her alight told a jury he accidentally spilled the flammable liquid during an argument.

Joiner Stephen Eastwood (55), said he had no reason to kill his wife Angela (56) and described how he desperately tried to put out the flames after she became engulfed in fire at their home in Thurcroft.

Eastwood wiped away tears as he gave evidence at Sheffield Crown Court when he recalled her last words in hospital.

The court has heard how Mrs Eastwood suffered serious burns to her face, neck and chest when white spirit on her skin and clothes caught fire at the couple’s home in Sycamore Drive.

But the library worker did not go to hospital immediately and may not have appreciated at first how serious the burns were following the incident on December 27 last year.

She died four days later at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.

The prosecution allege Eastwood deliberately threw the white spirit over her and then lit it with some kind of naked flame, but he denied this.