A man who deliberately blew up his house in an explosion that killed a neighbouring toddler has been jailed for 10 years.
The blast obliterated the rented home of Andrew Partington and two adjacent terrace houses in Shaw, Oldham, last June. It created a scene of devastation police said would have been "not out of place in a war zone".
When Partington lit the fuse, two-year-old Jamie Heaton was next door watching Peppa Pig, his favourite TV programme. His body was later found in the wreckage by police officers helping his distraught mother, Michelle Heaton, search for her little boy.
She described her son as "a little genius" whose life had been taken as the result of a "selfish and deliberate criminal act".
Partington, 28, pleaded guilty at Manchester crown court in November to manslaughter and eight charges of destroying houses in the blast on June 26.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with a further five on licence. Police say he caused damage worth around £1.2m.
The court heard Partington had a history of domestic abuse. He had spent the afternoon and evening before the day of the blast drinking and being abusive to his girlfriend, who eventually left the property with her five children, two of whom were Partington's.
Returning to the house later on, Partington found it empty. He then filled the house with gas by cutting through the main supply hose where it entered the house, as well as a gas pipe in the void below the bath.
When he was unable to contact his girlfriend on the phone he sent her a series of abusive messages:
11.07pm: "So I gess I got yo show u then wot u. Meent to me never cheated on u all ways loved u get f****d naw good buy" (So I guess I have got to show you then what you meant to me. Never cheated on you, always loved you, get f****d, now goodbye)
11.31pm: "Told u next time u live me house go. Whith me u left your kids whith no dad no home good bye boom gas pipe cut allredy fild up boom told. U last time tell jur and aj I loved them but mum was a. Bich" (Told you next time you leave me, house goes up with me. You left your kids with no dad, no home, goodbye, boom, gas pipe cut, already filled up, boom. Told you last time, tell Junior and AJ I loved them but Mum was a bitch)
11.37pm: "See if u loved me but u don't good buy" (See, if you loved me, but you don't, goodbye)
12.37am (to his girlfriend's brother): "Tell jur and aj I loved them" (Tell Junior and AJ I loved them)
At about 11.15am, Partington ignited the gas that had been filling the house. At the same time, his neighbour at number 11, Michelle Heaton, was in her yard. After sentencing, she described how she had gone outside to move her washing line just before the blast.
"I had stepped out on to the back doorstep and lit my ciggie and it went boom," she said.
"I crouched down as I thought something was falling. The loud sound just echoed all around. With the loud bang, I knew Jamie would be frightened but I couldn't get back in the back door.
"I ran through a neighbour's house to get to the front of the house. The front door had blown off and I couldn't get through the lounge door. It was jammed with all the rubble. We tried to get in but we couldn't shift it."
Tearfully, she added: "I saw a bed was sticking out of the front window. We were screaming for Jamie. We saw a policeman, so I told him what were what and they moved us back."
She said on the day of the explosion she had stayed off work, at Boots chemist's, to care for her son, who had been unwell.
She said: "Usually, he would be at nursery. I got up and had a shower. He was happy playing in his cot. I made him some toast; normally he would have porridge but he had been ill.
"I was so excited when he said 'yum': it was the first time he had said it. He could only say about five words. He held the toast up to me and said it. I phoned my mum, who was saying he was going to be a little genius.
"He followed me back into the kitchen and I knew he wanted a biscuit, so I just let him have one. Then he went back to the lounge and was watching Peppa Pig."
In a statement issued by police on Tuesday, Michelle and her husband, Kenny, described the son they had lost. They said: "Jamie was nearly two and a half years old. He was a beautiful, healthy and loving little boy who was full of life. He had his whole future ahead of him. Like children of that age, he was full of adventure and mischief and above all he was great fun. He was intelligent and constantly trying to outwit us both as he worked on his next scheme to find his crayons to redecorate the walls.
"Jamie idolised his brother and sister, Jack and Jodie, and they played so nicely together. They played hide and seek and were constantly wrestling. We often wondered what the future would hold for Jamie and his achievements. His great-grandma said he was a 'genius'. Unfortunately, we will never find out."
Detective Chief Inspector Pete Marsh said: "Andrew Partington is a bully who systematically verbally and physically abused his partner. When she found the strength to take herself and her children away from him, he spiralled out of control and committed an egregious act of spite that cost an innocent and much-loved young boy his life."
The Heatons have set up a charity in their son's memory. Jamie's Something Special will provide children's play equipment at Bullcote Park in Heyside, Oldham, the park where Jamie took his first steps. The fund has already raised £7,000 and also aims to benefit children in the local area with autism, a condition Jamie had been diagnosed with shortly before his death.