Chilling CCTV shows teens being sold fireworks they used to kill gran minutes later

Josephine Smith, 88, died in her bed after a Megaburst rocket exploded and set her home ablaze.

Shocking CCTV shows the moment two teenage yobs are sold fireworks that they later used to kill a grandmother by shoving them through her letterbox.

Josephine Smith, 88, died in her bed after a Megaburst rocket exploded and set her home in Harold Wood, east London, ablaze in October 2021.

Kai Cooper, then 18, and Callum Dunne, then just 15, were later convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey and locked up for more than eight years.

Mrs Smith’s son Alan, 55, has now asked police to release the footage showing them being sold the deadly firecrackers so people can see the ‘level of irresponsibility shown’ by the shopkeeper.

The clip shows Mark Vardy, 59, selling them to the teenagers, who can be heard asking for something that would ‘go far and quick’.

Cooper also says: ‘I’m trying to get fireworks, let them off at people. People are going to get terrorised tonight.’

The pair then made their way towards Mrs Smith’s home in Queens Park Road which was randomly selected.

En route, the two youths set off fireworks in the street, next to a restaurant and a pub, near cars, and even towards frightened pedestrians.

Acting on a dare, the 17-year-old lit a firework and put it through the letterbox of Mrs Smith’s home.

There were two explosions and a fire ripped through the house.

By the time firefighters had arrived, the property was smoke-logged and Mrs Smith had died in an upstairs bedroom.

Vardy, of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, was given a one-year suspended sentence earlier this month after pleading guilty to two counts of selling fireworks to a 15-year-old.

He repeatedly failed to hand over the incriminating CCTV to police and his son Luke Vardy, 29, handed over only snippets with no audio.

Mr Smith said: ‘It was important to us as a family that the police released this footage.

‘We wanted the wider community to see the level of irresponsibility shown by Mark Vardy that night and why it was that he ended up in court.

‘He was supposed to be a responsible adult and certainly should have known better and known the risks involved with such an irresponsible sale. He didn’t sell those fireworks to those kids by accident.

‘The boys told him exactly what their intentions were.’

Josephine’s family want the age for buying fireworks to be increased to 21, and for a minimum spend of £50 to be imposed.

They also want more regular checks on fireworks vendors, to make sure they are acting responsibly.

Alan said: ‘This should discourage irresponsible youths from purchasing individual fireworks to cause mayhem.

‘The youths that took mum’s life bought ten mega burst fireworks for £8.99.

‘These are essentially small bombs.

‘It makes no sense to me that this was possible.’

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