A FAMILY say they’ve had no justice after a man who sold a firework to a child that killed a gran walked free from court.

Former shopkeeper Mark Vardy, of North Road, Westcliff, was spared jail this week after admitting selling fireworks to an underage boy.

The fireworks were sold to Callum Dunne, then 15, of The Drakes Shoebury, before one was shot through the door of Josephine Smith’s home in Harold Wood.

The 88-year-old passed away from smoke inhalation. During a court case at Romford Magistrates’, on Tuesday, it was heard Mark Vardy and his son, Luke Vardy, had frustrated the police’s investigation into the pensioner’s death.

‘No justice’ – Alan Smith and his wife Lisa levaing court on Tuesday‘No justice’ – Alan Smith and his wife Lisa levaing court on Tuesday (Image: SWNS)

The pair repeatedly failed to hand over damning CCTV in which Mark Vardy laughed and joked with two teenagers, twice selling them fireworks even after they repeatedly stated that they planned to use them as weapons.

Mark Vardy was handed a suspended sentence while Luke Vardy’s company, LMV Enterprises, was ordered to pay a £7,500 fine, £8,500 towards the council’s costs and a £190 victim surcharge.

Ms Smith’s family attended Romford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for the sentencing of the firework vendors, at times becoming tearful in the public gallery.

Asked whether they felt the sentences were justice, Alan Smith said: “No. I don’t think so. I feel deflated. I thought the company would get a bigger fine than that.

“What those boys did was a silly, puerile act, but Mark Vardy was a grown man, a responsible adult, who made a poor decision and has just walked away. All he had to do was say no. It was only £8.99.”

Suspended sentence - Mark VardySuspended sentence - Mark Vardy (Image: SWNS)

“He could have stopped them there and then, but he didn’t,” added his wife Lisa.

Judge Holdham found the father and son had engaged in “deliberate concealment of the CCTV”.

Mark Vardy was working behind the counter in the Fireworks 4 Sale shop in Station Road, Harold Wood. Luke Vardy, who owned the shop, was not present.

Both Callum Dunne, and his accomplice Kai Cooper, 18, were jailed for manslaughter at the Old Bailey last year.

Cooper, of Cleve Road in Leatherhead, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, and Dunne jailed for three years and eight months.

Mark Vardy was prosecuted as an individual, while his son Luke attended as the director of the company LMV Enterprises (of Station Road, Rayleigh), which had also pleaded guilty to two offences.

Charges against Luke Vardy as an individual were dropped after his company admitted culpability.