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Willenhall arson spree - How young lovers' tiff ended in murder

"I wanted to get back with him but wanted to make him wait." The everyday words of a young 17-year-old girl talking about a rocky on-off relationship.

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But only hours after Lauren Wellings broke up with 'obsessed' Aiden Elmore he went on a murderous arson spree that saw the death of an innocent elderly man.

In this picture published for the first time today, 21-year-old Elmore and young mother Lauren pose cheek to cheek and look like any young loving couple.

But it was with his mind fixed on revenge after their latest spat that he set out on the arson spree in Willenhall that claimed the life of 68-year-old Victor Moore.

Miss Wellings told Elmore's murder trial that the couple would often break up but end up getting back together. She said: "In the past when we broke up he'd storm off. He'd sometimes bring flowers to my house. We were madly in love with each other."

She had sent him a message at 10.30pm on October 7 calling off their relationship some nine hours before callous Elmore went on the vengeance-fuelled rampage.

Police know he targeted Miss Wellings' mother with one of the fires but have no idea why he started the blaze at the flats on the junction of Southey Close and Tennyson Road in Short Heath where Mr Moore lived. He collapsed and died in the ground-floor corridor of the maisonettes after Elmore set fire to wheelie bins he had used to barricade the rear exit.

Elmore, who had been drinking heavily, then started garden fires in Crab Lane en route to the Wychbold Way home of Miss Wellings' mother where he set wheelie bins placed next to patio windows alight.

Elmore, of no fixed address but previously of Essington Road in New Invention, Willenhall, had denied murder, as well as two counts of arson with intent to endanger life.

But he was found guilty following a five-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court of Mr Moore's murder and the two other offences.

He and Miss Wellings have a son together but had been spending time apart when Miss Wellings sent Elmore a text ending their relationship. She told jurors she was 'in two minds about whether we should get back together' and said: "I wanted to get back with him but wanted to make him wait.

"After I'd had the baby I starting going out again and finding my feet.

"He wasn't too bad after we broke up – he knew we'd end up back together in a few months.

"We were still dead close."

Elmore will be back in court on Tuesday for sentencing but can expect a life jail sentence.

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