Man set fire to ex-partner’s Worsley home in murder plot | Manchester News

A man who carried out a “terrifying murder plot” by setting fire to his ex-partner’s house as she slept has been convicted of attempted murder.

Nicholas Martin, 63, poured petrol through the letterbox of his former partner’s house in Worsley, Salford, and set it alight in the middle of the night.

The victim fortunately survived as she heard her letterbox rattling and jumped out of a first-floor window to safety, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Martin, who denied the offence, was also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and will be sentenced on 10 November.

The court heard Martin, from Eccles, Salford, had been in a relationship with the woman since 2019.

In August 2021 the couple went to Scotland together where Martin subjected her to a “vicious and sustained attack” in their holiday accommodation.

He shook her, hitting her against the walls and floor and would not allow her to leave the room, which left her with extensive bruising.

On 14 September 2024, Martin was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and released on strict bail conditions to live in Leicester, not to go to her address and to have no contact with his ex-partner.

However, Martin broke his bail conditions by travelling to Worsley on 21 October 2024.

He booked into a hotel and waited until the middle of the night before carrying out his murder attempt in the early hours of the following day.

He drove back to the hotel and later that morning booked into a hotel in the Lake District in an attempt to evade arrest.

His ex-partner broke both her ankles and a vertebrae in her back as she jumped to safety, the court heard.

Martin was arrested the next day at the hotel in the Lake District where a petrol can containing petrol was recovered.

Despite later admitting to causing the fire, he claimed he had no intention to kill his ex-partner.

Abbie Clarke, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Nicholas Martin carefully planned and carried out a terrifying plot to murder his ex-partner.

“This vile act of cowardice nearly took his victim’s life, and today’s verdict reflects the extent of his malicious and sinister actions.”