A MAN who murdered a family of eight, including five children, in a house fire as they slept was jailed today for at least 23 years. Shahid Mohammed, 37, was found guilty of killing the family after petrol bombs were hurled into the property in Birkby, Huddersfield, in 2002. He also poured petrol through the […]
A MAN who murdered a family of eight, including five children, in a house fire as they slept was jailed today for at least 23 years.
Shahid Mohammed, 37, was found guilty of killing the family after petrol bombs were hurled into the property in Birkby, Huddersfield, in 2002.
He also poured petrol through the letter box to torch the house following a long-running and bitter dispute over his sister’s relationship with a man.
Seven members of the same family – including five sisters aged ten to six months – perished in the blaze.
The kids’ gran suffered a head injury trying to escape the burning building in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and died in hospital a week later.
Mohammed had been investigated by police at the time, but skipped bail and fled to Pakistan prior to a 2003 trial in which several other people were convicted for their involvement in the incident.
As well as the murders he was also found guilty of conspiring to commit arson with the intention to endanger life.
Yesterday, at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Robin Spencer said there is “only one sentence for murder and that is life imprisonment”.
During a four-week trial at Leeds Crown Court, jurors heard that the blaze which caused the deaths of members of the Chisti family followed a grudge that the defendant had been “pursuing vigorously”.
Mohammed started the fire because he disapproved of the relationship between his sister Shahida Younis and her boyfriend Saud Pervez, Leeds Crown Court heard.
They both fled to Newcastle over the feud and weren’t in the house, but Mohammed was allegedly targeting Saud’s friend Mohammed Ateeq-ur-Rehman, 18, who had supported the relationship.
One member of the Chisti family, Mohammed Ateeq-Ur-Rehman, known as Ateeq, played an “active part” in maintaining their relationship, and was probably the target of the attack on May 12 2002, the court heard.
Jurors were told petrol bombs were hurled into the property, in Osborne Road, while petrol was believed to have been poured into the home through a nozzle and ignited.
Mohammed was jailed for a minimum of 23 years.
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