A student who admitted in a Truth or Dare game to murdering his stepgrandmother in a house fire has been sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in custody.
The family of Mary Gregory, 94, thought she was the victim of a tragic accident as an inquest ruled three years ago she died from a dropped or carelessly discarded cigarette.
However, police reopened the case a year later following a confession from Tiernan Darnton, 21, during a counselling session in which he said he killed Mrs Gregory – his stepfather’s mother – by using a lighter to set a curtain on fire at her bungalow in Heysham, Lancashire.
During the probe, it emerged that Darnton had made a similar revelation several weeks after Mrs Gregory’s death, during a game of Truth or Dare with two friends in which he revealed his “darkest secret”.
