SELF-CONFESSED arsonist David Lauwers was yesterday jailed for life at
the Old Bailey for the manslaughter of victims of a porn cinema club
blaze.
Lauwers -- known as Deaf Dave -- was cleared by a jury of eight women
and four men of three representative charges of murder and also of
setting fire to the club intending to endanger life.
Eleven men died and 15 were injured in the blaze which engulfed the
New City club in Smithfield, central London.
The 35-year-old tailor's assistant, of no fixed address, had admitted
manslaughter and the lesser charge of reckless arson earlier during his
five-day trial.
After the verdicts it emerged that Lauwers had been put on probation
three years earlier for another arson attack -- after a dispute with a
former girlfriend.
The Recorder of London, Sir Lawrence Verney, told Lauwers that a long
sentence was necessary ''in order to protect the public from serious
harm from you''.
The judge passed life sentences on all three counts of manslaughter to
run concurrently -- and ordered Lauwers should not be considered for
release for at least 10 years.
Lauwers winked and shook hands with his interpreter as the sentence
was relayed to him by sign language.
Lauwers started the fire in February last year after a violent row
with the club's doorman over the entrance fee. He was drunk and
aggressive, the court heard.
At a near-by filling station, he bought a can of petrol, went back,
sprayed it over the entrance lobby -- and ignited it.
About 30 people were in the club's two small cinemas, which showed
non-stop heterosexual porn during opening hours.
Flames swept through the four-storey building in minutes, trapping
people inside.
Mr John Nutting, prosecuting, told the court: ''Electric lights went
out and dense smoke quickly rose up through the building. Some tried to
descend the main staircase, but were driven back by the intensity of the
heat and were unable to breathe.''
In his summing-up, the Recorder said the building was a potential
death trap.
''The only effective exit was down the main stairs and out of the
front door, but this route was blocked by fire as soon as it started,''
he said.
All the windows were boarded over. An exit to neighbouring premises
was boarded up, another was padlocked and an internal staircase was shut
off, the judge said.
The jury had to decide whether Lauwers intended to kill or do serious
harm, in which case he would have been guilty of murder.
Mr Rock Tansey, QC, defending Lauwers, told the court that when his
client heard of the death toll on the TV news ''he could not believe
people had died or been injured''.
''He was petrified over what had happened and gave himself up to the
police,'' he said.
Outside the court, Mr Donald Payne, brother of fire victim Maurice
Payne, said: ''We're not exactly over the moon about the verdict and
sentence -- it's less than a year for each life.''
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