The quiet cul-de-sac of Appledore Road in Bideford, North Devon, had always been the kind of place where neighbours waved over garden fences and kids played football until the streetlights flickered on. But on the eve of Halloween, that fragile peace shattered into a nightmare of flames, screams, and unthinkable evil. A semi-detached house erupted into a raging inferno, black smoke billowing like the breath of hell itself, and inside, a man in his 30s fought for his life in vain. Michael Hargrove, 34, a gentle factory worker who’d already endured a bitter divorce and the ache of missing his two young daughters, was trapped upstairs, his desperate cries drowned by the roar of the blaze. Firefighters battled for two agonising hours, but when the flames finally surrendered, all that remained of Michael were charred remains in a bedroom locked from the outside.

Within hours, Devon & Cornwall Police launched a murder investigation, and the culprits emerged from the shadows like demons unmasked: four boys aged 13, 14, and 15, along with a 14-year-old girl, all local tearaways known for months of terrorising the estate. In shock dawn raids, armed officers stormed five council houses, dragging the howling teens from their beds and into police vans as stunned parents wailed in disbelief. The girl screamed, “It was just a joke!” while one boy kicked out at a copper, his face twisted in defiance. All five were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, now upgraded to murder. They’ve been bailed until December 1, but the noose is tightening, and Bideford is baying for blood.

Neighbours who once turned a blind eye to smashed windows and vandalised cars are now spitting venom. “These are diabolical little monsters!” roared Patsy Wilson, 67, a retired dinner lady who watched the house burn from her doorstep. “They’ve been feral for months, throwing bricks, torching bins, terrorising pensioners. But murder? They’ve crossed into pure evil!” Terry Jones, 52, a burly lorry driver who tried to smash Michael’s window with a garden hose, broke down in tears. “I heard him screaming, ‘Help! Fire!’ His face was pressed against the glass, eyes bulging with terror. The heat was like a furnace. We couldn’t reach him.”

The timeline of terror is chilling in its banality. At 10:15 p.m. on October 28, the five suspects, masked in balaclavas, crept up to Michael’s garage. CCTV captured them spraying petrol from a stolen can, stuffing rags inside, and flicking a lighter with gleeful whoops. They filmed the explosion on their phones, laughing as they fled, no doubt planning TikTok fame. By 10:18 p.m., the garage was a fireball, flames leaping to the wooden house like a starving beast. Michael woke to crackling horror, dialled 999, and begged for help. The first fire engine screamed in at 10:25 p.m., twenty firefighters battling the inferno as the roof collapsed in a thunderous crash. At 12:45 a.m., they pulled Michael’s body from the upstairs bedroom, his lungs filled with smoke, his skin burned beyond recognition.

Michael Hargrove wasn’t just a victim; he was the heart of Appledore Road. A devoted dad who’d lost custody of his girls after his wife’s affair in 2019, he worked double shifts at Bideford Fish Factory to send them birthday presents. “He was the nicest bloke you’d ever meet,” sobbed his brother Paul, 38. “Always mowing lawns for the old folks, sharing BBQs, buying sweets for those little sh*ts last Halloween. Now they’ve roasted him alive!” Workmates packed a tribute at the factory gates: “RIP MIKE – YOU SAVED MY LIFE FROM A FORKLIFT CRASH.” Even his ex-wife Sarah, 32, wept: “Heartbroken. Those kids robbed my girls of their dad.”

The gang’s reign of terror wasn’t new. Bideford, once an idyllic fishing port, has been cursed by a youth crime wave: a teen stabbed in the park in 2024, a car torched in June, a shop fire in September, all linked to the same crew. Lisa Green, 41, whose eight-year-old son Harry nearly died from a brick through her kitchen window, screamed: “Those vermin! Lock ‘em up forever!” Retired fisherman Bob Harris, 72, growled: “Cane them! This town was paradise till these scrotes arrived.”

Detective Inspector Laura Finch vowed justice: “This is murder. No stone unturned. We’ve seized phones, clothes, forensics will bury them.” Petrol residue matches a local garage; CCTV nails the faces. Social workers blame broken homes, single-mum estates, and social media dares, but one suspect’s mum wailed: “My boy’s innocent! It was a dare!”

As the bailed brats sneer from windows, Bideford weeps. A vigil tonight will light candles and demand: “JUSTICE FOR MIKE.” The council’s slammed for cutting youth clubs, the MP calls for zero tolerance. But in the ashes of Michael’s home, one question burns: Who will pay for this evil?