Masked men poured petrol into wrong home and set it alight as family slept inside

Masked men poured petrol into wrong home and set it alight as family slept inside Stuart and Claire Marsden had arrived home at about from a rare date night out and had just gone to bed when they heard a “loud crash” that woke them up just before 2am An innocent family nearly lost their lives in a case of mistaken identity, with masked men hurling a petrol bomb into their home as they targeted the wrong house in a gangland feud. The bungled attack caused a devastating blaze and saw the Marsden family of Bury, in Greater Manchester, lose everything but each other. Stuart and Claire Marsden had arrived home at about from a rare date night out - their kids were sleeping over elsewhere for the night - when they heard a “loud crash” that woke them up at about 2am. Mr Marsden went to investigate the strange noise and - to his horror - found their end-of-terrace home on fire. Luckily, the couple were able to escape the blaze, but their house was severely damaged. Nine months on, it remains uninhabitable. Footage recovered by police caught Jody Lynam and a second, unknown offender, on camera as they creep towards the house on January 18 of this year. Timecodes recorded their approach as occurring at about 1.40am on January 18 this year. The unknown man smashed a window, and Lynam was seen pouring petrol inside. They then triggered an ‘explosion’ and the pair fled on foot. Lynam later discarded the balaclava he'd been wearing nearby, which had traces of his DNA on it that enabled investigators to trace him back to the arson attack. Minshull Street Crown Court was told that Lynam, a drug addict, and his co-offender had been acting on orders from a drug dealer. Lynam had been pressured into targeting the property of a rival dealer in order to ‘send a message'. The court was told that Lynam had been told that the property would be empty. Alas, what actually happened was a devastating case of mistaken identity. Right before Lynam was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison, the presiding judge said: “This could have been multiple people killed." Prosecutor Anthony Williams told how Mr Marsden shouted to his wife to get out of bed. They grabbed their dog and a phone to call the emergency services and fled. The fire was extinguished but it caused more than £113,000 worth of damage. In a statement read on his behalf, Mr Marsden said: “I have absolutely no reason why anyone would want to do this.” He told how he has been left ‘traumatised’ and in ‘constant stress’. “I am constantly on edge and keep thinking my whole family could have been wiped out, for no reason at all,” he added. Mrs Marsden said: “We have lost everything. The children have lost all their Christmas stuff. It is going to take so long to build everything back up. I have done nothing to deserve this.” The couple work as a social worker and a school site manager, the court heard. Lynam has racked up 122 previous offences on his criminal record. Defending, Adam Brown said that Lynam had been in poor health prior to the arson attack, but had been released from hospital and then became addicted to crack cocaine. He said Lynam’s home had been ‘commandeered’ by drug dealers and that he was ‘highly intoxicated’ at the time of the attack. He is ‘genuinely remorseful’ and is in a ‘much better position’ than when he was first placed on remand in prison after his arrest, Mr Brown said. The family were initially placed in a hotel and then temporary accommodation. The home still remains uninhabitable. “This was an extremely serious offence,” Judge Jenny Lester-Ashworth told Lynam. Lynam, of Hardfield Street, Heywood, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.