Mum of 4 children killed in fire smiles in wheelchair in first outdoor footage

A brave mum whose four children were killed in a petrol bomb attack has been filmed releasing heart-shaped balloons for them outside hospital.

Michelle Pearson, 37, can be seen sitting in a wheelchair, with a tracheostomy tube in her neck and casts on both of her legs.

With a smile on her face, she lets go of the four red balloons and watches them rise into the air in a moving Valentine’s Day tribute to her kids.

And as she does, she says: "Happy Valentine’s Day, kids."

Michelle, who suffered horrific burns in the arson attack two weeks before Christmas 2017, is still recovering from her injuries more than a year on.

The touching video, which her mum Sandra Lever gave us permission to share, is the first footage of her outdoors since the devastating blaze .

Filmed by a loved one yesterday, it shows how courageous Michelle is still battling severe heat injuries – after suffering 75 per cent burns to her body.

The mother can be seen with a white cast strapped to the bottom half of her right leg, while a similar cast covers even more of her left limb.

She also has bandages under her hospital gown. But with incredible strength, she manages to release the bunch of balloons herself in tribute to her children, Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and three-year-old Lia.

She is joined by loved ones, who count down "three, two, one" before the balloons – and some star-shaped ones – are released into the air.

Michelle, then 36, was left in a coma after two lit petrol bombs were tossed inside her family’s home in Salford, Greater Manchester, as they slept.

On the night of the blaze in December 2017, she screamed “Not the kids! Not my kids!” before being overcome by smoke, heat and flames.

After coming out of her coma last year, she was initially shielded from watching the news in case anything on the fire cropped up.

“We tended to avoid her watching the news at the beginning,” Sandra, 57, previously told Mirror Online. “She was OK with the [children’s] funeral. We don’t really put normal TV on, we’ll put Netflix on.”

Michelle was sadly forced to miss Demi, Brandon, Lacie and Lia’s funeral, which was held in Walkden last September, for medical reasons.

She was also unable to attend a candlelit vigil in Jackson Street – the scene of the attack – two months ago to mark the one-year anniversary.

“She’ll still be in hospital, she’s too poorly,” Sandra told us ahead of the Christmas-time vigil. “She said, ‘Take some pictures and show me.’"

Today, doting mum Michelle remains in hospital, although she is allowed into the yard to release balloons for her children – like she did yesterday.

“When they do the balloon releases with her, they do let her go in the yard,” said Sandra, who received a heartbreaking Valentine’s Day card from one of her grandchildren yesterday in memory of her four "angel" grandkids.

Speaking in December, the gran added: “She’s still got the tracheostomy in. She’s just up and down really with constant infections.

"We see her most of the time, we all go to see her at different times.

“She phones me every day."

She also said that whenever she tells Michelle she “bets she will be glad” when she finally gets home, she replies: “Not without the kids”.

During the attack, the two petrol bombs were tossed inside the family’s home at around 5am, with the second device ‘exploding’ near the stairs.

This blocked the only exit to the ground floor and trapped the victims upstairs as flames engulfed the house, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Michelle survived the blaze along with her son Kyle, now 17, and his pal, Bobby Harris, who both managed to climb out a bedroom window.

A court heard how brave Kyle grabbed a hammer and started smashing a living room window in a desperate bid to save his family.

He also tried to force open the front door, jurors were told.

Demi, Brandon, Lacie and Lia all lost their lives following the fire.

In May 2018, two men were jailed for life for the children’s murders.

Zak Bolland, 23, who had been involved in a “petty” feud with Kyle, was handed four life terms and told he must serve at least 40 years.

David Worrall, 26, meanwhile, was ordered to serve a minimum of 37 years.

Bolland was also convicted of three counts of attempted murder relating to Michelle, Kyle and Bobby, who was staying at the house at the time.

Worrall was found not guilty of three counts of the same charge.

A third defendant, Courtney Brierley, 20, was found not guilty of murdering the children, but convicted of the alternative of manslaughter in each case.

She was handed 21 years in a young offenders’ institution.

Sandra, who considers Bolland and Worrall “monsters”, previously told us she still finds it difficult to believe the pair could do something so evil.

“The people in the house were so young,” she said.

“Why would they do that to a woman with young children?”

There are plans in place to move Michelle to a rehab facility this year – with loved ones hoping she could be home by this Christmas.

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