A terminally ill father in the UK has told a jury he was engulfed in a ball of flames after his swimming pool heater exploded in an alleged plot by his wife, her lover and the lover's daughter to kill him. 53-year-old Raymond Weatherall, a father-of-seven, said he survived the attack after he was pushed into the pool by his son to put out the flames when the incident took place in his family home in June last year. The man, who was diagnosed in 2015 with brain tumor, suffered from second-degree burns to his shoulders, arms, hands, and legs from the incident.

The Sun reported that he told the court: "I was stood about four, five feet away from the boiler as I call it when there was this almighty bang, the door on it blew open and covered me with all the kindling and the remains of the lit fuel. I was ablaze in as many seconds as you could ever imagine."

He continued: "I rolled and rolled and rolled but no way was it going out. So I struggled towards the pool. My jacket was alight, my shoulders. I knew where I was going and knew where I had to go. My son Sam came screaming over and pushed me into the pool which is what put me out." 

It was alleged that the explosion was only the first in a series of "planned, aborted or failed" attempts to kill him by his 32-year-old wife Hayley, her 49-year-old lover Glenn Pollard, and his 20-year-old daughter Heather Pollard. Hayley, who is a mother-of-three, has been with Weatherall for nine years.

The couple tied the knot in December 2015. Jurors in the court heard how Weatherall has known Pollard for more than 20 years and always thought of him as "more or less like a brother". Hayley, who is from Molland Lea near Canterbury, Kent, Pollard and Heather, both from Church Lane, West Stourmouth, Canterbury, have all denied conspiracy to murder between June 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018.

Aside from the swimming pool heater explosion, the three of them were accused of shooting Weatherall in the face while he was cutting down trees at Sandwich Marina, Kent, on November 29, 2017. When he didn't die in that attack, the trio allegedly discussed other ways to kill Weatherall who was given about 18 months to live back in the early part of 2016.

The other methods allegedly included poisoning the terminally ill man with cyanide, injecting him with a lethal dose of insulin, and even pushing him overboard on a fishing trip. Heather, who was then aged 19, allegedly carried out internet searches which referred to "techniques on silent killing", "creative ways to kill someone" and "16 steps to kill someone and not get caught".

All three of them have denied conspiracy to murder and the trial is still ongoing.