In just moments, a 13-year-old boy went from sleeping to smouldering as he jumped out of a burning house set ablaze by a molotov cocktail from a disgruntled neighbour.

Arthur Haines was sleeping on the top floor of a house in Waterloo, in Sydney's inner south, with other children on April 9, 1998 before a visit to the Royal Easter Show.

But he soon became the victim of a bitter neighbourhood dispute that turned deadly after Gregory John Walker, then 30, threw a molotov cocktail into the kitchen of the house.

Arthur became trapped as the fire spread rapidly and was forced to jump from a window, according to the agreed facts.

He was smouldering when he landed on the grass, having sustained severe burns on up to 65 per cent of his body.

The teenager died in hospital 11 weeks later.

Afte

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