The Salford mum whose four children were killed in a devastating arson attack on her home more than 17 months ago has taken a turn for the worse in hospital.
Michelle Pearson is said to be in a critical condition - four months after being seen outside the hospital for the first time since the tragedy.
Michelle lost Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and Lia, three, in the devastating fire in her Walkden home in December 2017.
The 37-year-old has been battling to recover after being left in a coma with severe burns to 75 per cent of her body.
Earlier this year, she was filmed in a wheelchair with a tracheostomy tube in her neck and casts on her leg as she released balloons outside hospital .
But last night her mum, Sandra Lever, took to Facebook to tell friends and family her condition had worsened.
She wrote: "We have been reluctant to share Michelle's journey over the past few months as we have been focusing on getting her better.
"Also trying to keep away from the public eye to allow Michelle and the family to grieve.
"However, what people didn't know is that in fact this has been the most challenging time for Michelle and the family.
"Michelle's health has deteriorated in the past 10 weeks, Michelle is still in critical health and still remains in hospital until further notice."
In February this year Michelle was filmed by a loved one releasing heart-shaped balloons in the sky outside hospital in memory of her children.
Watch: Michelle Pearson releases balloons for her children on Valentine's Day
Footage - which Michelle's family gave permission for the Manchester Evening News to share - shows the courageous mum in her hospital gown, sitting in a wheelchair and smiling at the sky as she watches the balloons float upwards.
As she did she said: "Happy Valentine's Day, kids."
Michelle suffered 75 per cent burns to her body and still has a tracheostomy tube in her neck as well as casts on both legs.
It was the first time Michelle has been seen outside the hospital since the fire.
In December, she recorded a video from her hospital bed which was played to supporters who gathered on Jackson Street to remember the youngsters on the one-year anniversary of the attack.
She thanked the firefighters who battled to save her children, as well as members of the community for the incredible support the family had received over the past 12 months.
What happened to Zak Bolland, David Worrall and Courtney Brierley...
In May 2018, Zak Bolland was found guilty of murdering the four children and of the attempted murders of others inside the house.
The court was told that Bolland, 23, thought of himself as a hardman.
Actually he was a coward with a history of picking on the weak and vulnerable, a pyromaniac who used fire, or the threat of fire to deal with his rivals. A workshy, drink and drug-addled petty crook with a nasty, violent temper.
David Worrall was found guilty of the four murders of the children and of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent against the three survivors. He was cleared of attempting to murder them.
Worrall has a daughter himself. But that didn’t stop him from throwing in the first petrol bomb, made from a Budweiser beer bottle.
It landed in the kitchen, causing a flash of fire but minimal damage.
Seconds later, Bolland lit the fuse on a second, much larger petrol bomb - fashioned from a wine or vodka bottle - and threw it through the smashed window.
Courtney Brierley, Bolland's then partner, was found not guilty of the murders, but found guilty of the alternative of manslaughter in each case. She was cleared of three counts of attempted murder.
The attack was the devastating climax to a feud involving Bolland and Kyle Pearson, Michelle Pearson's eldest son, who escaped the blaze.
Brierley, now 21, is now set to launch an appeal against her conviction.
Brierley - said to be a 'broken' woman behind bars - has lodged appeals against both her sentence and conviction.
She helped Zak Bolland and David Worrall carry out the attack on December 11, 2017, urging them to put their hoods up as they purchased the petrol used in the firebombing and then going with them in the car that took them and the petrol bombs to Jackson Street in Walkden.
Brierley had claimed she acted because she was in fear of her violent and abusive boyfriend Bolland and had not realised exactly what he was about to do.
Her legal team tried and failed to get the case against her thrown out mid-trial, arguing she had done little more than the prosecution’s main witness Abigail Toone, who had unwittingly acted as the trio’s getaway driver.
The Court of Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice in London has confirmed that her appeal is listed for June 27.
It is understood Brierley is serving her sentence at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey which houses some of the nation's most dangerous female prisoners, including Joanna Dennehy, who stabbed three men to death in 2013.
Last year one prisoner, after their release, told the M.E.N: "Courtney was very, very quiet, very broken. I didn't know what she'd done until after I'd left and I was horrified. You just would not have thought it of her."
She described how Brierley was housed in a block with lifers.
"Courtney came straight in on remand and was put in a single cell which she rarely left. She was employed as a cleaner but was always being chased by senior prison officers to come and do her work," said the woman.
She added: "She always looked like she'd been crying, was very, very quiet, didn't make friends with anyone, rarely ate."
