Man found guilty of murdering a mother and her children in arson

A TRIPLE killer faces life in prison after he was convicted of murdering a mother and her two children by starting a fire at their home following a dispute over money with the children’s father.

Asjid Mahmood, 22, was unanimously convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday of the murders of Iram Shah, 30, and her daughter Alina, 10, and son Aman, eight.

The children were killed when flames ripped through their house in Hendford Drive, Bradford, on July 6, last year despite the frantic efforts of neighbours to save them. Their mother jumped from a window, begging for them to be rescued. She suffered 80 per cent burns and died later in hospital.

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Asjid Mahmood, of Pollard Lane, Undercliffe, Bradford, will be sentenced next month along with his brother Arshed, 18, who was cleared of murder but found guilty of the trio’s manslaughter.

The jury of seven men and five women took about four hours to reach their verdicts.

The judge, Mr Justice Coulson, ordered a pre-sentence report on the younger brother and said he wanted to sentence the two together when that was ready.

During the two-week trial, Asjid Mahmood admitted setting fire to petrol-soaked paper at the back door of the family’s home in the early hours but claimed he was only trying to scare Mrs Shah’s ex-husband Zaheer, with whom he had an increasingly bitter dispute about payments for a car. The jury heard the intended victim had left the property earlier that night.

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The judge commended the police investigation and praised the victims’ relatives for their dignity in court.

Det Chief Insp Simon Bottomley said: “Our thoughts are very much with their family now as they try to come to terms with the horrific deaths of their loved ones.”