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The Marple site where the burning van was found
Burning man ran half-a-mile for help
Exclusive by by Alex Scapens, Matt Davies and Cheryl Latham30/ 7/2008
THE FAMILY of a Marple man who ran nearly half a mile screaming for help, as he ripped off his flaming clothes, are keeping a vigil at his hospital bedside.
Police have launched an attempted murder investigation as they try and find out exactly what happened to victim Steven Thornley, 27, who suffered 40 percent burns in the terrifying incident.
Steven, who has been drifting in and out of consciousness while being treated in the specialist burns unit at Wythenshawe Hospital, managed to tell police he was bundled into a van, doused in petrol and set alight at Lakes Road, near the Roman Lakes, Marple.
He ran nearly half a mile screaming in pain and pulling off his burning clothes until he reached Beechwood Drive, dressed in just a smouldering t-shirt.
Shocked residents who were alerted by his cries of pain, found him pleading for help as he tried to cool his burning flesh.
Steven was first taken to Stepping Hill Hospital and later transferred to a specialist unit at Wythenshawe, following the attack at around 9.50pm on Sunday night.
Speaking to the Stockport Express yesterday (Tuesday), Steven’s shocked dad David Thornley, of Eccles Bridge Road, said: "We were devastated when we heard what had happened. Nobody deserves this and Steven is not a bad lad. We don’t know properly what’s gone on yet, just what the police have told us.
"We still can’t speak to him properly, he was operated on to clean up all his burns, so he was on morphine and is in and out of consciousness. The burns are mainly to his body and there are some to his face which we have been told should clear up eventually. The whole family [including mum Linda and four brothers and sisters] are at the hospital by his bedside just to be there with him."
Steven, an electrician, is now said to be in a stable condition, but residents on Beechwood Drive had feared the worst when they found him.
Anthony Healey, who was first to the scene, said: "I was in the garden when I heard a load of screams and this man came up the road shouting; ‘Help me, help me I’m in agony’. He was stark naked apart from a t-shirt and smouldering so I got cold towels and wrapped him in them. He was desperate, screaming and in pain, his arms and legs were worst."
Anthony phoned for an ambulance, which arrived within minutes, but during the wait another neighbour, Dr Peter Bennett, was called on for help.
He told us: "We heard what sounded like animal noises, it was a man who had been badly burned. They came and got me because I am a retired GP. I have never seen anything like it."
Police, including forensics, a crime scene team and CID, combed the site and the white van from which Mr Thornley fled.
Det Insp Kevin Dolan said: "We are investigating allegations made of a very serious nature."
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31/07/2008 at 14:39
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