'˜They took his life and destroyed mine' says mum of murdered Sunderland boy Dean Pike

Janine Dodd (43) with her son Mackenzie Stores (13) holding a photograph of her late son Dean Pike (11).

An episode of Murdertown, on the Crime + Investigation channel, will focus on Sunderland, examining the killings committed by Steven Grieveson in the early 1990s and Dean’s horrific death in a bungled arson attack on his home in 2005.

Killers Terry Majinusz, 40, and 43-year-old Neil English poured lighter fuel through the letter box of the home Dean shared with mum Janine Dodd in Mordey Close, Deerness Park, Hendon.

They had intended to target relations of Majinusz’s 18-year-old girlfriend but got the wrong house.

Eleven-year-old Dean was found by firefighters on the upstairs landing, while 30-year-old Janine, who was heavily pregnant at the time, was blown from an upstairs bedroom.

Majinusz and English, both of Chester Road, denied murder, but were found guilty of causing Dean’s death and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Janine.

Janine was approached by the production company behind the show through a message on-line and she had no hesitation in taking part.

“I thought it would be a lovely gesture to do a documentary.

“I just think it is good for him not to be forgotten and important to remind people how horrible the people who did this are,” she said.

“People should know what happened, that they took his life and destroyed mine.”

Son Mackenzie, with whom Janine was pregnant when Dean died, is now 13 - two years older than his big brother was when he died.

“I don’t have any experience of having a child this age - the fire was six weeks before Dean’s 12th birthday,” said Janine.

She is still tortured by the memory of what happened and the thought of how Dean’s life might have turned out.

“It does not get any easier as the years go by,” she said.

“Time is not really a healer.

“You are always asking yourself what would he look like, what would he be like, would I be a grandmother yet?”

Presented by Coronation Street and Happy Valley Katherine Kelly and featuring interviews with those involved with the cases, Murdertown will air on Crime + Investigation on Monday.