A love rat who had been cheating on his girlfriend

A love rat who had been cheating on his girlfriend with her sister burned down their home killing their elderly mother, the Old Bailey heard.

Frail Glenda Chambers perished in the flames when mini cab driver Richard Zimba, 33, torched her maisonette home in a fit of rage, it is alleged.

The blaze was the climax of a four year dispute with the family over Zimba’s cheating, the court was told.

He doused mats with petrol on the doorstep of the family home in Onley Road, Walworth, and set the building alight, jurors heard.

And he stood and watched as the fire began to make sure it was burning well, it was claimed.

Mrs Chambers, 70, suffered horrendous burns and smoke inhalation and died in hospital one week later.

Her daughter Natalie, 23, was found unconscious on the ground after she lept from a balcony and her nephew Steven Parks also managed to escape the flames.

The court heard Zimba had met the Chambers family five years ago and began a relationship with Natalie.

‘The time came when Natalie wanted to marry this defendant, but he didn’t want to wed her,’ said prosecutor Mr Michael Worsely, QC.

‘They were both churchgoers.

He was sleeping with Natalie and her mother plainly didn’t like it.

‘When he wouldn’t get married the girl got upset about it.

‘To make matters worse he took a fancy to her younger daughter.

‘

The defendant began a relationship with 19-year-old Sabrina, who moved into his home and later gave birth to his daughter, now aged two, the court heard.

But within five months the pair had split, said the prosecutor.

‘The defendant fell out with the family of his girlfriend.

He had a great deal of trouble with the family and they with him,’ said the QC.

‘He had threatened their deaths.

‘On December 14 last year he did just what he threatened to do.

He set fire to some mats outside the family’s front door.

‘He badly burned the property which had three people inside it, one – the mother of the family – died as a result.

‘

Mr Worsely said a neighbour spotted a black man wearing a woolly hat watching the fire.

‘He hung about to make sure it had caught then disappeared when the ambulance arrived,’ the prosecutor explained.

The following day, Zimba of Tooley Street, Southwark, south London, flew to his native Uganda.

When police broke into his car they found a black woolly hat and two petrol cans – one of which could have been used to start the fire.

Zimba was arrested as he emerged from the gates at Heathrow airport a month after he left the country.

He told police at the time of the arson, he claimed he was on the M1 travelling to a Bedfordshire village he could not name.

The QC told jurors there were no witnesses to the incident or any scientific evidence, instead the case is supported by circumstantial evidence, he added.

Zimba had threatened to kill the family weeks earlier, said the prosecutor.

He made sure his two-year-old daughter and ex-girlfriend were not in the house, he continued.

His description matched that of the man seen torching the house by a neighbour, explained Mr Worsley.

‘Two petrol cans were found in his car – one containing a small amount of petrol, the same sort used to set fire to the house.

‘When arrested he gave a completely false alibi.

And extensive enquiries have revealed that no one else had a motive to kill Mrs Chambers,’ he added.

Zimba denies murder on December 14 last year.

The trial continues.

ends